“I don’t know if ‘cannibal’ is technically correct,” River said. “He’s only part human.”
“Right,” said Talen. “What was I thinking? I feel so much better now.”
“He’s not going to eat you, Talen.”
“No, first he’s going to fatten me up. Then he’s going to eat me.”
“He’s going to help us,” River said.
“He said that?”
“Not yet.” She looked at the king’s collar about his neck. “We need to get that off.”
“I can’t break it.”
“It was secured by lore, and requires lore to remove it.” She moved around in front of him and studied it for a moment, then reached up and took hold of the thick part that acted as a clasp. “There are a variety of designs, but most are variations of the same pattern.” She concentrated. “Yes, there it is.”
A moment later, Talen felt a prick of pain, and then River removed the collar from his neck. “You’re free,” she said.
Except Talen didn’t feel any different. And when he tried to reach out to his Fire, it didn’t respond. “Are you sure it’s gone?” Talen asked.
She held up the weave like one might a dead rat. “It’s gone,” she said.
At that moment Harnock walked back out of his house with a burlap sack and a waterskin. “You two are going to leave now. Here’s some food and water. If you hurry, you might make it out before the sun sets.”
River slipped the king’s collar into a leather pouch at her waist, then turned to Harnock. “We need your help,” she said.
“I already told Argoth—I’m not interested in your little war.”
“It’s not a little war. And that’s not my whole purpose in coming here.”
He held out the sack. “That poison will give your joints some trouble, but it will eventually work its way out. I’ve put some herbs in the sack that will speed the healing.”
Talen thought about Nashrud’s crows and dog and wondered where they were. He didn’t think he and River would get far with them on their tail. He said, “You need to know the men that took me, they’re not just dreadmen. Their leader is some sort of Divine.”
Harnock’s brow furrowed in anger, and he turned on River. “You brought a Divine to my door?”
“I didn’t know,” she said.
“We can ambush them when night falls,” Talen said. “It’s clear you can see in the dark. I can as well. We could—”
“I don’t care what perversion the Divines have worked in you,” said Harnock. “My answer’s no.” He held out the sack. “Leave. Now.”
“It will be easy pickings,” Talen said. “We can take them.”
“You didn’t hear me, boy. I want you out of here. You bring a Divine to my door, and poison is going to be the least of your worries.”
River looked up at the sky. “I think it’s too late,” she said.
Talen followed her gaze and saw two hooded crows fly over the little farm, then circle round to see it again. He swallowed.
Harnock narrowed his eyes. “What are those?”
Talen knew he was not going to be pleased. “I think they’re Nashrud’s, the Divine’s.”
Harnock looked back down at Talen. “I should just give you to them. Pay them off.”
“Harnock,” River said.
“You stay out of this. You knew better.”
“It wasn’t our intent.”
“Intent?” he bellowed. “These last years I finally found some measure of peace. And now you’ve destroyed it.”
“Then I am more sorry than you can imagine,” she said.
“I won’t fight a Divine.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“Yes, you are,” he said. “Nobody can know about this vale. But now they do. Which means I will have to kill them. But I can’t kill a Divine.”
“I would say you could probably kill whomever you pleased,” said Talen.
Harnock ignored him.
“Help us escape these dreadmen,” River said. “Then come with us. It’s time, well past time. Time to open the Book. Time to come out in the open. We need your help. You need help.”
“There is no helping me,” he said.
“You don’t know that,” said River.
“I know it,” he said. “I know it in my bones. It’s all written in the bones.”
“The Book holds wisdom we cannot imagine,” she said. “And the Grove is about to rise. You cannot give up hope now.”
“Argoth is a fool. He was always rash. And now that Hogan is gone, there is none to speak reason. I do not want to pay for your mistakes. You should have never let the Grove come out of hiding.”
“All we need is time,” said River. “If we can make it through the winter, we will have an army the likes of which has not been seen since the ancient days.”
“The armies of the righteous failed before.”
“Better to die trying, than to never try at all.”
“That’s a load of glib pap,” said Harnock.
Every moment they delayed put them in more danger. “If you won’t guide us,” Talen said, “then tell us where to go.”
“It would do you no good,” said Harnock. “Even if you knew the Wilds, you’re not going to get past the woodikin. You will never make it.”
“Harnock,” River pleaded. “I’m begging you. What would Moon do?”
“Don’t bring her into this.”
“You know what she would say—draw these hunters in; they don’t know the dangers of the Wilds. Lead them on a path that will take them to their deaths.”
“She wouldn’t say that.”
“Oh, really?”
Harnock growled in frustration.
“You can’t let them have Talen.”
“Why not?”
“He was bred to be a Glory. Do you want to give them that?”
Harnock looked at Talen. “I could kill him now, put him beyond their reach.”
“That doesn’t save the Grove. It doesn’t help the Koramite women and children. We’ve never had a better opportunity to strike those who twisted you. This is your moment, Harnock. Your time to deal out justice.”
Harnock looked back up at the crows. Then he came to a decision and let out a long frustrated sigh of resignation. “Fine. I’ll get you through the woodikin. But I won’t promise one bit more.”
Relief flooded Talen. “Ancestors bless you. We’re in your debt.”
“Boy, if you bless me one more time, I promise I will kill and eat you.”
Talen shut his mouth and blinked.
Harnock looked Talen from head to toe and shook his head. “They want to make that into a Glory?”
“Yes,” said River.
“What did they do? Run out of the regulars and turn to the droolers and halfwits?”
“Something like that,” said River.
Harnock turned back to Talen. “Well, Glory, I hope you know how to deal with a Divine, because I’ve never been able to beat one.”
Talen cleared his throat. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Believe it,” said Harnock. “If that Divine you brought to my door gets a hold of me, then you’re all done for.”
2
Blend
HARNOCK SENT TALEN to fill the waterskins while he and River filled three packs with food and supplies. As Talen pulled the water up from the well, he tried repeatedly to reach his Fire, but it still wouldn’t respond. By the time he returned to the front of the house with the waterskins, he was worried the collar had done some real damage.
Inside the house, Harnock slipped a small dark wooden box into his pack. The box was carved on the outside and weathered, but from the care with which Harnock handled it, Talen suspected it held weaves. Maybe even the Book itself.
“Don’t just stand there and gawp,” Harnock said. “Get in here and arm yourself.”
Talen walked under the bones hanging from the eaves into a room that was as tidy as any he’s seen in any Koramite dwelling. There was a hearth and table and a bit of lace on top of it. The floor was made of planks of wood, and every square foot of it was clean. Tools hung on neat pegs on one wall. A cloth embroidered with an intricate design and cluster of red flowers hung on another. Off the main room lay a bedroom with a normal rope and tick bed that was all made up. A bearskin blanket was rolled up at the foot of it. For some reason, he’d expected a hovel, something to go along with the bones hanging about outside.
Harnock pointed at the wall behind Talen where a number of fine bowstaves lay across wooden pegs. “I’m assuming your father taught you how to shoot?” Harnock asked.
“Yes,” said Talen.
“I’m sure he also taught you how to follow orders. We’re going into dangerous territory, and I don’t want to waste one arrow. And I don’t want you provoking the inhabitants. So you won’t think about shooting until I tell you.”
“I’ll wait for your command.”
“Take a bow and as many arrows as you can carry.”
The bows all had fine profiles, excellent tillering. Two were made of maple. One hickory. Another was backed with sinew. One was slender and white with silver filigree, something for a woman to hunt small game. Talen turned to the bigger bows. The maples were tempting, but Talen decided on the dark hickory bowstave. Hanging by the bows were small sacks of oiled skin which kept the bow strings. He took three of those and two quivers that held twenty arrows each with fine hunting points.
Meanwhile Harnock shuttered up the two windows. When he was done, he picked up a couple of long-knives, then buckled on a sword of fine steel with gold worked into the hilt and pommel. It was a lord’s sword.
Harnock looked around his tidy house one last time, glared at Talen, then walked to the door and motioned Talen out. Talen exited, hurrying past the big man-beast into the sun. Harnock followed and shut the door behind him.
River held a pack out to Talen. She was sweating, looking a bit haggard.
He took the pack and slipped it over his shoulders. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
“She’s going to have to be okay,” said Harnock. “Now let’s move.”
“I’m a little dizzy,” said River. “But I’ll be fine.”
Harnock pointed toward one end of the vale. “I want you two to follow the path at that end. Just follow it straight.”
“Where are you going?” asked River.
“I’m going to circle back, find out exactly where they are.”
“Those crows will see you,” said Talen. “They’ll lead the Divine to you. Let me do it.”
Harnock looked at him. “What, you think you have better woodcraft here in the Wilds? Maybe you’re planning on walking into a wurm field again?”
“No,” said Talen. “It’s not like that.”
Harnock turned to River. “You’re brother’s an idiot.”
“Most of the time,” River said, trying to diffuse the situation with a bit of humor.
Harnock shook his head and turned to leave. “Keep on the trail,” he said to River. “I’ll catch up.”
“I can travel in the yellow world,” Talen said.
Harnock ignored him, made sure his knife was strapped tight.
Talen raised his voice. “I said I can travel in the skir world.”
Harnock stopped and looked over at him.
“At least that’s what I think it is. There are these parts of me—I can send them out. It’s how I found River in the pitch black of night.” He turned to her. “It’s what I attacked you with in the barn.”
“Parts?” Harnock asked.
“Well”—he didn’t know how to describe them—“eel-like things. I call them roamlings.”
Both River and Harnock stood there trying to process what he’d just said. The silence stretched long, and then Harnock asked, “They come out of you?”
“Yes,” said Talen.
He shook his head in disgust. “No wonder you reek.”
“What is it?” River asked.
“He’s a blend,” Harnock said. “With what, I don’t know. But a blend all the same, made to be their dog.”
“You’re a blend,” River pointed out to Harnock.
“And?” Harnock demanded.
“You can show him the way.”
“There is no way,” Harnock said.
Talen looked at the crows above. “So I’ll just go and see where our friends are, okay?”
Harnock said to River. “If he shows any sign of turning, we’ll need to be quick. They might have him on a leash at this very moment. In fact, I’ll bet on it.” He put his hand on the pommel of his sword. “Let me do it now, put him out of his misery. Put him out of mine.” He turned back to Talen. “What do you say?”
“Well,” Talen said. “I’d say you’re an extremely generous fellow, but I’m kind of hoping to avoid the death thing for a while. It’s a little overrated.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Actually,” said Talen, “I do.”
Harnock shook his head. “It’s a mercy I’m promising. In fact, if you want my help, you’ll promise a mercy in return.”
“You need only ask,” River said.
“If I’m taken, you’re going to kill me. And you’re going to do it quick. I will not be their thrall again. Swear to me by your ancestors you will do it.”
“I swear,” River said.
Harnock leveled his gaze at Talen. “Swear.”
If a Divine took Harnock, then Talen would have to fight Harnock. How could he—
“Swear!” Harnock commanded.
Talen jumped. “I’ll murder you straight out,” he said. “I swear it.”
“Good,” Harnock said, satisfied. “Send your eel things forth, but know I’m watching you.”
“That term,” Talen said. “‘Eel things’ makes me feel like some sort of squid. Why don’t we call them roamlings?”
Harnock looked at him like he was a bug. Like he might squish him.
“Right,” Talen said. “Eel things, I’ll just send them out.” But the two of them staring at him made him uncomfortable, so he turned around. He loosened his shoulders, took a breath, and felt after his parts. A moment later, two of the roamlings emerged from his wrists. Except they weren’t separate from him. They were him. Just like an arm or leg.
The yellow world mixed with the blue in his multiple vision. He closed the eyes of his flesh to concentrate better and soared up past the roof on Harnock’s house and into the lavender-tinged sky to see at a distance, to see what others could not.
Above him the crows started to caw, then something spooked them, and they fled. Talen continued to rise until Harnock, River, and the houses below all looked like small carved figurines. He scanned the hills and woods about him with both roamlings. In the distance, he saw some pale orange creatures, skir probably. From the sun, he knew which way was East and West. Nashrud and his dreadmen would probably be coming from the East, the direction of the clan lands. So he flew that way, above the hill on that side of the vale, and scanned the trees, rills, and slopes below him. A minute or so later, he found the dreadmen.
“They’re about two miles back, east southeast,” he said with his body. “They’re working their way up a slope.”
“You’re sure it’s them and not some troop of woodikin?”
“Positive. They’re mounted. I can see Scruff.”
“Our horse,” River clarified.
“Fine,” Harnock said. “Keep an eye on them. I think it’s time they get introduced to the Wilds properly.”
Talen opened his e
yes. While the triple vision didn’t overwhelm him as he thought it might, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to run looking multiple ways. So he pulled one roamling back.
He expected Harnock to move out, but he walked over to the stone shrine instead and knelt next to the grave there. He clasped the bone that hung from his necklace and began to murmur something under his breath.
“Whose grave is that?” Talen asked.
“Moon’s, she was his wife.”
“He had a wife?”
“Moon was not your average woman,” she said. “She was a beautiful copper-skinned beauty that could gut you as easily as she could look at you. A smuggler from a rough family.”
“She was married to him? In his blended form?”
“It’s a long story,” said River.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“It’s his to tell,” she said.
Talen thought of the lace in Harnock’s house and the tidy rooms.
Harnock spoke some final words, then rose and came back to them. “We’re going to set a fast pace,” he said.
“I’ll go as fast as I can, but you should know they took my weaves,” Talen said.
“You don’t know how to multiply?”
He reached for his Fire again, but it was sluggish. “I think the collar did something to me.”
“Oh, that’s just grand,” Harnock said.
“It’s probably just a lingering effect,” said River. “I’m sure it will fade with time.”
Harnock pointed at Talen. “Don’t fall behind.”
“What’s the plan?” River asked.
“We’re going to chum the waters, and see what rises.”
That did not sound auspicious, but Talen wasn’t about to press Harnock with questions.
“And you,” Harnock said to Talen. “One false move, and I feed you to the wurms.”
“Likewise,” Talen said, remembering his earlier promise, and immediately felt like an imbecile for saying it.
Harnock narrowed his eyes at him, shook his head at River, then turned and set off at a jog.
“Did we not promise him a mercy?” Talen asked.
“We did.”
“I think he’s going to kill me.”
Raveler: The Dark God Book 3 Page 2