Intimations of Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 1)

by Cary J Lenehan

  For Rani it was a very odd night. She had been to many tactical discussions but here, during the entertainment she was often admiring her lover’s beauty while in the breaks they were all huddled around the front table, discussing and planning. The discussions of tactics and warfare contrasted with the attire and allure of dancing girls. Coins on the table stood for their people and were moved around as various combinations were discussed: how to move, what to do when attacked, who should be on watch with whom—and when—and why—all the minutiae of a battle group, admittedly a small one.

  Father Christopher insisted on taking the middle watch. “Although they can come at any time, it is the most likely time for the partly resurrected—the undead—who are usually evil—to appear. The miracles that can be used in battles that I have been told how to cast are best employed on them.”

  In case of any other form of attack Father Christopher also volunteered to hold the horses for all of the others as he could do little else in a fight.

  After the entertainment was over they all drifted off for their last time in a soft bed for some time. Most left to get a good night’s sleep. Rani noticed that Basil and Astrid also left as a pair, much more quietly than the previous night, shyly holding hands, and on the heels of her and her lover. Tonight Theodora was almost dragging Rani up the stairs. Before falling fully to sleep Rani was left not knowing what to say when Theodora mused sleepily that, if she was falling in love with a person whom she would now have to watch grow old and die, and all of the other people she was with were also short-lived, then she might have to change from being the aristocrat. Now these people that she had chosen to throw her lot in with might be as close as she would have to a family for quite a while and perhaps she should treat them all as if that is what they were. She wondered, as she in turn drifted off, how that left her and her position. Would her lover stay as she aged? What was happening to her with caste?

  ~~~

  That night, for the first time, Hulagu had a dream from his grandfather—a message was on the way and had been coming to him for some time. His grandfather had been trying to contact him for several nights—but it was still hard for him to do.

  Chapter XXXIII

  Even as Hulagu was leaving his encampment, Nokaj had spoken to the hetman Ordu, who started getting the tuman mobilised. They were the Khitan, people who lived on their mounts, and they were used to this. After he had gotten his own encampment moving he retired to his ger to send messages from shaman to shaman through the spirit world. These brigands were not only an insult to the tribes, but if they could come this far into the plains without detection, they were also a threat to them.

  Once those who could help were told they began to gather. It took a good while but, by the time he emerged to find his horses ready he could see that, starting first with an individual here and there threading their way through the ger and the smoke of the fires the warriors of the tribe gradually began to harness their horses and then mount and to drift east like smoke drifting on the plains. At this stage what he saw was an almost casual movement. No one rode hard. He saw that most, just as he did, visited the ovoo before they joined in with the others. They needed to gather.

  As time went by and the land rose and fell, Nokaj looked out from the rises at other crests. More and more riders could be seen joining. As had been done since the days of his youth and probably for many generations before that, the groups slowly merged, like the smoke from an entire camp joining overhead into one column. As they did there was a reorganisation of the riders. People left their tuman and started to form into what passed for units among the Khitan. Light riders with no armour moved to the front and flanks and moved further and further out as their number grew. Soon people armed with powerful bows were scanning the ground well ahead and to the flanks.

  The heaviest armoured riders gathered in the centre. Most of them rode unarmoured horses. They held themselves ready to spread out and envelop an opponent. Those on fully armoured horses rode to the rear of the others where they would come upon an enemy as a massive armoured fist to crush them. Nokaj joined the Tar-khan Toluy there. There he could see more riders with lesser armour bringing up the rear. Around everyone ran packs of the giant dire wolves, loping along and enjoying the exercise. After a few days of riding scouts reported two figures off to the left watching them rather than either joining them or running from them. After consulting with Nokaj, Toluy gave orders to ignore the pair and the clan rode on.

  Each night Nokaj led the shamen and shamenka into a conclave around a fire. Pooling their talents they scried for a path to follow. Four mornings after they started a small troop of scouts were sent off. They were to make contact with the tuman of the Pack-hunters and to stay with them as messengers and proof of fair intent. They were led by the Tar-khan Toluy’s son Marakes and took a shaman and shamanka with them. Nokaj was worried, even with this much help the signs were still unclear. What they had found seemed to indicate that news would come from that direction and that the clan should travel north. In accord with this he had the clan headed off slowly, along the border, if such a term could be used, between the land of the Dire Wolves and that of the Pack-hunters. Scouts were looking for signs of passage on the ground but, try as they might, none were found beyond the normal that would be there at any time. Days and soon weeks passed.

  Still each night Nokaj had assembled the seers. The clan had left their territory now and were passing along the line between the Pack-hunters and the Cow Lizards. That night news came through dreams. The Pack-hunters were now on the move as well, headed both to the north and for the forest edge to cut off an escape. If the brigands were still on the plains they would find their way blocked by one clan and with another on their heels. It was time for Nokaj to advise that the pace should pick up. Finally Nokaj found an area that they could not see into. What is more, there were no tracks anywhere leading to this area. This was a powerful piece of magic to use, but once its nature was known, it could be negated and worked around.

  Towards the end of the next day of very hard riding, even by the standards of the clans, the scouts sighted their quarry. Word came quickly back to where Nokaj rode with Toluy. Eight hands of riders, together with heavily laden packhorses, were headed towards the forest edge.

  Hard on the heels of this was another report. The quarry had drawn up on a rise about a hand of hundreds of paces away from the edge. A third report told why. A thick line of Pack-hunters stood between them and the forest. As Nokaj rode forward with Toluy, Nokaj could see that the outriders of the two clans were exchanging greetings on each side of them. The brigands were going nowhere. They were now far north of where the caravans normally went in their path across the plains, only a day or so south of the outskirts of the first assarts of the town-dweller settlement of Greensin.

  Nokaj prompted his Tar-khan and, like his opposite was already doing, he rode out to meet the other, followed by the shamen and shamenka. The totem animals were left behind. The giant wolves and the fast-running bright-feathered two-legged lizards with the single slashing claw on each foot were natural competitors and would often fight on sight unless restrained and there was no declared truce yet. Dusk was falling as they met. The brigands sat on their rise. After discussion the tribes decided to attack them as the sun cleared the horizon. Nokaj suggested that they use a well tried device. The shamen and shamenka would all combine to enable a strong compulsion for sleep to be laid on the camp. Prisoners were to be taken for questioning before they were executed.

  It was a dark night and clouds covered the moon. Guards patrolled just out of bowshot. The shamen made their preparations. This would be a powerful casting at this range and over such an area. They discovered that the area that could not be seen into was larger than they had thought. It was not just the area of the brigands that was covered, but most of the two clans were within it as well. In addition Nokaj was chagrined to find that the blanket over events lay on them thicker than ever.

  In the gloo
m of the pre-dawn, scouts reported to the shamen that something was happening in the brigand camp. Nokaj was furious when first light revealed what it was. In the sky, and rapidly receding, was a carpet with four passengers. The other shamen thought about spells and incantations, but Nokaj dismissed the idea. At this range it was far too late without prior preparation. Although it could be seen they could not even sense it as it now carried the aura of non-detection with it. The carpet was headed for the south so that it would perhaps cross the river at Lake Erave, between the two towns located there. All was silent in the brigand’s camp and no movement could be seen by the scouts. They must all be sleeping.

  By the time of the attack figures had started to stir and wake others—to no avail. The attack went in. It was a well-practiced way to take out and capture a much smaller opponent who had access to powerful magic. A screen of the heaviest cavalry came from the east and the west feinting a charge, but firing no bows. Close behind them rode scouts with lassoes and bolas in their hands. The shamen of the tribes combined their mana, feeding it to their strongest. Powerful spells of sleep and inaction were launched. The result was an anti-climax. Apart from a few arrows and a few weak missiles of fire, earth and air from wands or other devices, all of which ceased when the spell struck, there was no resistance. Only a few riders had a light wound, quickly healed. The spells knocked out the entire brigand force, their horses and, as it turned out, some captives.

  Nokaj and the other shamen and shamenka now stepped back. It was up to their Tar-khans now to enact justice. As they watched in a group all were bound and secured. Three were found who were not brigands: two attractive women and a grieving man, a potter, who had seen his family butchered before him. The women, once released, had to be kept away from sharp objects. All they wanted to do was to kill the brigands—slowly and starting with the single woman among them. Being allowed to watch the questioning and to offer suggestions on how it should proceed mollified them slightly. It was found that these suggestions, loudly voiced, made the work much easier. Eventually it was decided that all that could be found out had been discovered and the three captives were given a dagger each and left to deal with the bound non-Khitan brigands. An initial chorus of screams and pleas slowly dwindled to stillness over the course of the day. Once the non-Khitan had been deal with, ten Khitan, of various clans, were left to be judged.

  Without word from either the spirit talkers or their leaders the two clans moved towards the forest edge and foragers gathered large quantities of wood into piles that were well over half a man’s height high and well over two hundred paces long at a flat area. The piles were lit. The ten had their clothes roughly cut away and, once the fires were well lit, with hands still bound they were prodded with spears, one by one, into the narrow lane of fire to regain their honour. One captive looked around him and walked into the path slowly, his head held high, his hair catching fire even as he walked. He had taken the chance to purge his soul, to be forgiven his sins and regain his honour before the fire overwhelmed and then consumed him. Others ran screaming, hoping forlornly that they would make it to the end. Two men outright refused to go, despite any prodding, and when all had gone who would go, they ended their lives by being hamstrung and thrown into the fire thus gaining neither purging of their sin nor their lives. Their screams echoed loud, but not for more than a few minutes. Not one of them left the fires alive.

  Once this was done the results of the interrogations were written down and sent by fast riders to Hulagu in Evilhalt, along with news of the carpet. Nokaj knew that, somehow, all of this was connected to his grandson’s geas, although it took him many nights to contact him in his dreams to tell him that it was coming. Even though they might now suspect what was happening, they still had no idea how to act against it. No matter how hard they tried it was still hard for the shamen to move around in the spirit world and to talk with others or even just to wander and look around as one normally did. It may have been the tiniest bit easier, but the gain was hard to see or feel. Everything was even harder if it involved his grandson. It seemed that what had been done here was only a tiny start, but at least it was a beginning.

  Part 4

  Chapter XXXIV

  Hulagu sat ready on his horse and looked at the scene before him. Who would have thought that this was what had laid ahead. This was the morning his destiny would unfold. The others had come for different reasons, but it all brought a bustle of preparation to the day. Although they had been practicing together with their weapons, that had been practice; this was really the first time that most of them had a chance to see the others in their travel gear and fully outfitted for possible trouble.

  As he looked around, he could see that they were very disparate in what they wore and carried. Everyone had some form of missile weapon: a bow, a sling or even just something to throw at close range. Theodora, with her warhorse, was the heaviest armoured. She could ride with the first of the tuman. No one, looking casually at her, would suspect that she was a mage. The beautiful and exotic dancing girl, a pose for, in reality a pampered princess, had been replaced by the very grim image of the heaviest of cavalry. Unless one knew how to look, with her armour even the gender of the rider could not be easily seen. As he looked he could see that they moved not like a set of caravan guards, nor yet a troupe of travellers. With what they wore and with their horses, this group wore the visage of an assemblage headed to war. They just didn’t yet move as one. They had not been blooded.

  ~~~

  Father Christopher and Astrid joined the others, having come from the church. Astrid had not known that it was St Brigit’s day before then. As a matter of fact she had not really been aware at all of the number of saint’s days that there were before meeting the Father. She now knew, having accidentally asked a question in frustration, that more than one in six of the days of the year were especially holy in some way. She hoped that their skalds counted as poets when she had prayed for them and then added some money for the poor. None of the people in their group were milkmaids or blacksmiths so she had done the best she could with Brigit’s patronage of poets.

  ~~~

  Hulagu sat mounted and looked at his sister. She fussed around the horses. They had all been brought out of the stable and all lined up beside the inn waiting patiently—with the exception of Sirocco and Firestar, both now wearing heavy padded barding. The frontpieces were further reinforced with mail. These beasts were not accustomed to patience. Wherever Bianca was, one of them would be there. The other stayed with the packhorses. Bianca insisted on supervising everything to do with the three packhorses—her own and those of Basil and Rani as well. The two horses from the brigands were brought along mainly as remounts and were laden only with saddlebags of spare tack. Both Sirocco and Firestar were fully equipped, but both also had their reins looped onto the pommel of their saddles.

  He could see that this freedom given to the two battle beasts made many nervous, particularly any passerby who came too close and was shown teeth or had to dodge an impatient stamp of an iron-clad hoof. As befitted a mount that was used to riding in a large unit of similar beasts, and a mare as well, Theodora’s Esther was much better behaved, except if Bianca’s two came too close to her, when she would show her teeth at them in turn. She was not slow in showing that she would not take any liberties from either of them.

  ~~~

  Astrid decided it was all taking too long and would take far longer yet. “I have time,” she declared as, taking Basil in hand, she headed off on a last minute shopping trip. She smugly noted that she was right when they came back bearing more food and even some more pots to be hastily stowed in packs. Basil also had a new heavy woollen tunic and some long thick trews thrown over his shoulder and gloves and thick woollen knitted leggings stuck through his belt. Astrid proprietarily proclaimed that, like a typical male, he didn’t have enough warm clothes for the winter and the mountains that lay ahead.

  She turned and looked at Father Christopher, she could see t
hat he was feeling very un-priestly standing there in his own new clothes—a warm njal-bound brown cap with flaps for the ears, a good warm flannel undershirt under a coat thick-padded with cloth in vertical strips worn under a leather jerkin and heavy stout-woven woollen trews with woollen socks and heavy military-style hob-nailed boots—that she had bought for him some time ago. He was smiling quietly and looking back at her. No, he was dressed well enough.

  ~~~

  Hulagu could see that Rani was finally about to get on her horse and signal that it was time to mount and head out. Just then a boy came running from the direction of the western wall towards the inn. He was looking at straight to me.

  It looks like he is running straight towards me. I wonder if this is the message.

  “T’ree Khitan be a ridin’ hard towards t’ town,” the boy said speaking direct to him. “T’ey all be havin’ remounts, but t’ey be a lookin’ tired. Be t’ey for you?” He continued with barely a pause, now addressing the others as well. “Anyhows, guard commander he wants you to come to t’ wall…please.”

  “I don’t know if they are for me, but they could be,” said Hulagu in reply.

  He dismounted and moved over to where Rani stood and, after looking around, quietly told her of his dream from Nokaj before running to the west gate. Rani followed. He arrived in time to greet the riders. One was his cousin, Ordin, the others were Pack-hunters. After exchanging greetings he was handed the message from his grandfather and brought up to date on the destruction of the brigands. Ordin was all smiles and excited about what had happened until he had to admit to the escape of those who were on the carpet.