The King's bastard cokrk-1

by Rowena Cory Daniells

Orrade glanced to Byren, as did Garzik and Piro.

  The boy looked at his sister. 'What d'you mean, Florin? Da always says this is the best fortified of all the tradeposts.'

  'Aye. And I've closed all the shutters on the ground floor, but the house wasn't meant to be defended. The Neck and the palisade should have kept us safe, only the manticores are in now. We have to come out eventually. Once the manticores have battered their way through the barn and eaten our animals, they'll be waiting for us.'

  Byren knew this was true. Manticores were renowned for their intelligence. He wouldn't put it past them to figure out how to lift the bar that held the barn door closed. Then the manticores would find a way into the tradepost. He'd brought this down on Florin and Leif. It was his responsibility to keep them safe.

  'We'll have to kill the manticores,' he decided.

  Orrade snorted. 'Kill a whole pride? Even you can't do that, Byren!'

  'No, not on my own. But the cold snap has drained all the moisture from the air. Ideal for fire, and with a little cunning…' He grinned, and they drew closer, eager to hear his plan.

  Piro trusted Byren's judgement. If he said the flaming torches would keep the manticores away, then they would. Still, she felt vulnerable as they left the tradepost, each carrying a torch, cooking pots, several jars of pitch and more torches. She was so laden down, she couldn't have run if she'd tried. Her stomach tied itself in knots. Whatever made her think she would have enjoyed hunting the leogryf!

  They were all armed with bows, courtesy of the tradepost's weapon room. But night had fallen while they planned and prepared, so it would be difficult to hit a moving target.

  Byren was right, they had to kill the manticores… couldn't leave them to roam the valley, terrorising isolated farms.

  The wolfhounds bayed. Piro's heart raced in response to the mournful sound. Little Leif edged closer to her. Garzik, Orrade and Florin each held a wolfhound's collar as well as their load of supplies, and the great beasts strained to be let loose. Silly things. They were outmatched. Together they could bring down one manticore perhaps, but not a pride.

  She didn't catch sight of the god-touched beasts as they made their way to the palisade. Orrade and Florin dug a trench across the ruined gateway and filled it with pitch. When Florin touched her torch to the pitch, the trench filled with flames and Leif cheered. Piro was heartened, but suspected that celebrating would be premature.

  'Right, you two come with me,' Florin ordered Piro and Leif. 'Orrade and Garzik go that way. Then spread out and make as much noise as possible.'

  They ran down the length of the palisade, about a body length from the wood, spilling pitch and lighting it as they went. At this point, it was only a bow shot across Narrowneck. Soon the palisade's length was a line of leaping flames.

  'Now that they can't get out, we'll drive them before us,' Florin urged. She began shouting, making the dogs bark madly. Piro and Leif took their cooking pots and banged them together, shouting for all they were worth. Every so often, Florin tossed a pitch-dipped flaming torch to each side, lighting up the night.

  Piro could hear Orrade and Garzik, just make them out through the trunks. At its widest, Narrowneck was only two bow shots across, growing more slender until it came to the tradepost which was built just up from the cliffs that led down to the beach. Narrowneck tradepost even boasted a weighted lever that could lift the heaviest load up from the beach and lower it down again.

  The shouting and the leaping flames made Piro feel safer. She only hoped Byren was as safe and that his plan worked.

  Byren set off alone, heading for the platform above the cliffs to the beach. The platform was designed well, with rails and a gate the fed onto the extendible ladder. This could be raised quickly. From here, defenders could shoot down on the beach. But the platform was not defensible from the inside. When the builders had planned the tradepost they had not foreseen the need to defend the gate from this direction.

  The excited barking of the hounds, then shouts and clanking told him the others had begun their part. Cutting off the manticores' last avenue of escape was his responsibility. He poured a trail of pitch in an arc around the platform which stood head high, set fire to the pitch and climbed onto the platform.

  After stringing the borrowed bow, which was a little short and too light for him, he strode to the far side of the platform, avoiding the frame with its heavy weight and glanced down onto the snow-covered beach four body lengths below. It was empty of tracks. Good. None of the manticores had escaped. If all went well several would topple over the cliffs and die. The wolfhounds might account for one or two of the juveniles and, if any attacked his companions, they had their bows.

  He turned to face Narrowneck and the tree line, paced to the edge of the platform and closed his eyes to adjust them to the night before opening them. Then he focused on the ground about a body length below the platform on the inland side. He had a good view of the approach to the only way off Narrowneck.

  The baying of the wolfhounds changed pitch and he knew they had been let loose. They would flush out any manticores that tried to take shelter in the outbuildings.

  The hunting horn sounded, high and piercing. Florin and Orrade each carried one. It meant that one of them had killed a manticore. He spotted a dark shadow with the distinctive manticore tail that curled forwards over its body, slinking through the tree trunks. He raised his bow, taking his time with the shot because he wanted to sever the spine behind the neck. The angle was good.

  Thung. He let the bowstring go.

  The great cat screamed, legs collapsing. It wasn't dead, but crippled like that, the wolfhounds could finish it.

  Another hunting horn sounded. That accounted for three of the manticores. He hoped it was the adults. The dogs could handle the juveniles, if they got them cornered one at a time.

  This was going to work.

  Byren turned to survey his field, reaching for another arrow.

  A manticore confronted him. It was the male, with a mane dark as old blood. While he was looking the other way, it had crept close, body low to the ground until it was about a body length from him. A short leap for a beast of its size.

  'Easy… easy…' He breathed slowly, bring the arrow over his shoulder, nocking it, drawing.

  Too late. The beast leapt. It was the leogryf all over, but this time there was no Lence to push him to safety.

  He let the arrow fly, even though he knew it was hopeless, then threw himself back, left arm raised to fend off the jaws. He expected to hit the rail, but the manticore was already on him. It caught him on the upward arc of its leap. The impact drove him over the rail, off the platform. For an instant he and the beast hung in the air.

  Then the ground called them and, with a sickening lurch, they dropped.

  The world spun around Byren, icy lake gleaming in the starlight, snowy rocks flashing past, sparkling sky. The manticore writhed, trying to right itself as it fell. With a reverberating thud they struck a rocky outcropping halfway down, with the beast under him. The impact of their fall sent them ricocheting off, out and down again.

  Piro caught Leif and thrust him behind her, as Garzik reached for an arrow. The wolfhounds had one of the juveniles trapped in a corner of the dairy. Florin and Orrade were doing a sweep of Narrowneck to be sure they had got them all.

  Garzik notched his arrow and drew, waiting for a good shot.

  The side of Piro's neck prickled with warning. She turned. Another juvenile stood in the shadows, poised to attack Leif.

  'Garzik!' she hissed, reaching for an arrow and nocking it.

  'Quiet, Piro. I don't want to hit one of the dogs.'

  She couldn't take her gaze off those gleaming orange eyes, but at the same time she was aware of the raised tail, the poisoned spike dripping with venom. Could her arrow drive through the manticore's eye into its brain before it struck Leif? She didn't think so. But she had to do something.

  She thrust Leif behind her, saw a stray bucket and, q
uick as thought, kicked it at the beast.

  The manticore struck instinctively, tail hitting the bucket with a resounding ring of chitin striking metal.

  Piro loosed her arrow. It took the manticore high in the shoulder where it met the neck. Garzik swore. A dog howled, then whimpered. The other two growled as they attacked, tearing the second manticore apart. The cornered Affinity beast screamed in pain and fury.

  Piro's manticore took one step before its legs folded under it. She darted aside, dragging Leif out of the way of the falling tail. They collided with Garzik's back, driving him to safety and fell in a heap on the dairy floor.

  'Whaa?' Garzik rolled to his feet. He gaped as he took in the second manticore.

  Piro climbed to her feet. Odd, her legs didn't work properly.

  'You all right?' Garzik asked.

  She tried to say of course, but no words came.

  Garzik hauled young Leif to his feet.

  'Piro saved me,' Leif whispered, awed. 'She saved you, too.'

  Garzik turned to her, with a look she couldn't interpret. 'Piro, I — '

  She found her voice. 'That's two more down, better tell Orrie and Florin.'

  Her knees felt like water as she moved towards the dairy door. Leif whistled to call off the dogs. The surviving two came readily, muzzles bloodied, coats torn in places.

  'Poor Crusher.' Leif shed ready tears.

  Garzik rubbed his back. 'You can be proud of them. They've earned their keep tonight.'

  They'd only just stepped from between the outbuildings when Orrade came running towards them.

  'Byren's missing,' he called.

  Piro's heart lurched sickeningly.

  'Are all the manticores accounted for?' Florin asked, coming in from the other direction with a flaming torch.

  'We just killed two juveniles,' Garzik said.

  'Then there's only the large male — '

  'Are you deaf?' Orrade rounded on her. 'Byren's missing.'

  'If we don't know where the pride leader is, more of us could go missing,' she told him.

  Orrade blinked and nodded once. 'You're right. Leif, fetch some more torches.'

  The lad ran across to the wood pile. Piro opened her jar of pitch, dipping the new torches in it and setting them alight.

  Orrade took a torch, leading the way. Piro identified the platform and the machinery of the great lever, stark against the froth of stars, then the stain on the snow where the pitch had burned away. But the platform was empty.

  'Gate's still barred,' Florin said. She turned towards the tradepost, peering into the night. 'Where could — '

  Orrade groaned and dropped to his knees in the snow. Piro could not stop herself imagining the male manticore dragging Byren's body away to devour him. Her head reeled.

  Florin walked around the base of the platform. 'No drag marks, so — '

  'How am I going to tell King Rolen his son is dead?' Orrade whispered, devastated.

  'King Rolen?' Leif repeated. 'You mean that was Byren the leogryf slayer?'

  'Byren Rolen Kingson?' Florin rounded on them.

  'And this,' Garzik gave a mock bow, 'is Pirola Rolen Kingsdaughter, manticore slayer.'

  Despite her fear for Byren, a smile tugged at Piro's lips.

  'Hey,' Byren's voice floated up to them. 'When you're done talking can you help me?'

  Orrade sprang to his feet but Piro beat him to the rail. Fumbling in their haste, they peered between the rails, over the platform edge.

  'Careful,' Byren warned, from the snow-covered beach below.

  Piro laughed, then sat down abruptly, resting her forehead on the icy wood of the railing.

  The others joined them. Garzik tossed his torch down, so that it landed near Byren's feet, illuminating the broken body of the great cat with Byren standing unhurt beside it.

  'I swear you have more lives than a cat, Byren!' Orrade called down. 'What happened?'

  'Affinity beastie leaped up and knocked me off the platform. We crashed into the cliffs halfway down. The manticore took the impact of that before hitting the rocky beach beneath me. Killed it outright. Lucky for me.'

  'And you're not hurt?' Florin asked, clearly astounded.

  He laughed then slapped his arms and thighs. 'The beastie broke my fall both times.'

  'Of all the luck.' Florin shook her head. 'Halcyon favours you!'

  'Are the manticores all dead?' Byren asked. Orrade stood and tried to get the ladder's mechanism working.

  'Aye. All dead,' Florin said.

  'We lost Crusher.' Leif's voice quavered.

  'I'm sorry, lad. He was a fine dog,' Byren said and Piro could tell he meant it. That's why people loved her brother.

  'I can't get the ladder to drop,' Orrade announced. 'The ropes are missing.'

  'If the cliff wasn't covered in snow I could try to climb it,' Byren said.

  Florin stepped in front of Orrade. 'We take the ropes and pulleys off for winter.' Then she leant out to call down to Byren. 'You'd never make it up the cliff, I tried last summer.'

  'Ho, that's a challenge if I ever heard one,' Garzik muttered to Piro, as he pulled her to her feet.

  She smiled. She was beginning to understand why they teased each other. It wasn't that they weren't afraid. They were, but the best way to meet fear was to laugh at it.

  'Could you make it, if I threw down a rope?' Florin asked Byren.

  'Of course he could,' Orrade said, even as Byren said much the same thing.

  Florin turned to Leif. 'Run back to the store room and bring a coil of rope.'

  'I'll go with him,' Garzik offered. 'Make sure it's strong enough.'

  Piro found she was suddenly so tired she couldn't stand up straight, and her limbs trembled.

  'Better take Piro — I mean, the kingsdaughter,' Florin advised.

  'Piro will do,' she insisted. 'And I don't know what's wrong with me — '

  'Don't worry,' Florin told her. 'I feel a bit shaky myself.'

  Piro laughed. She couldn't imagine Florin giving in to weakness.

  'We'll be ready soon, Byren,' Orrade called down to him. 'Trust you to take on a manticore bare handed!'

  'Actually, it was the fall down the cliff that killed it,' Byren corrected. 'That and me landing on it!'

  The others roared with laughter. Piro found she laughed so much she cried. Florin gave her a hug and sent her off with Garzik and Leif.

  Byren had been torn between heading straight back to Rolenhold or taking the time to remove the manticore chitin so he could present it to their father. The memory of Warlord Corvel of Manticore in his fabulous chitin breast plate decided him. Removing the chitin and loading it on the sled had taken the better part of the day. But it was a fine gift, more than enough for a full suit of armour and worth as much as a small estate.

  He'd had Piro say the words over the beasts' bodies to safely release their Affinity. It was the best he could do without an Affinity warder and it meant that Florin and Leif could take the pelts and sell them, a windfall for their family.

  'Ready?' Orrade asked.

  Byren nodded and skated over to the snowy beach where Florin and Leif waited to say goodbye. 'We'll be off. Thanks for the loan of the sled and skates.'

  Leif surprised Byren by throwing his arms around his waist.

  'Next litter Queenie has, I'm going to call the biggest one Byren,' he said.

  'A wolfhound named after you, now that's an honour!' Orrade said with only the merest suggestion of a twinkle in his black eyes.

  Piro laughed and hugged Florin, then disentangled Leif from Byren to hug the boy.

  Byren faced Florin. Standing on the beach which was higher than the ice, she was as tall as him. It was a funny feeling, looking her straight in the eye. The pink glow of the setting sun illuminated her skin and he realised what a striking young woman she was. He cleared his throat. 'We owe you our lives — '

  'And we owe you ours,' she said, meeting his gaze.

  He was used to girls who b
lushed and cast him shy glances, or ones who sent him bold looks that left nothing to the imagination. He didn't know how to take a girl who held his eyes like an equal, like a man.

  It made no sense unless… Florin was like Orrade. Of course. It was whispered that the nuns of Sylion turned to each other for comfort. Not that he could see anything wrong with that. In fact, it seemed only natural. Women were so lovely, after all. Heat raced through his body. He felt himself harden and was grateful for the thigh-length coat.

  'Why are you looking at me like that?' Florin asked. 'Do I have dirt on my face?'

  Startled, Byren's gaze slid past her as his heart thumped uncomfortably. He took in the steep cliff behind her and said the first thing that came into his head. 'Reckon I'll have to come back this summer and see if I can climb that cliff without a rope.'

  Florin snorted. 'If I can't, no man can.'

  'Ah,' he grinned. 'But I'm no ordinary man.'

  Orrade and Garzik laughed outright and, after a moment, Florin joined them.

  Byren set off with laughter ringing in his ears. He strained against the sled's harness to get the load moving. The metal blades groaned on the ice and began to shift. Orrade and Garzik wore the other two harnesses. Only Piro skated free, gliding ahead of them and circling back, graceful as a bird on the wing.

  By full dark they'd made good time and were already out of the bend of Sapphire Lake.

  Even though the ache in his shoulders told him it would be hard to get the sled moving when they started up again, Byren called for a break.

  'We'll eat and skate by starlight until we have to rest,' he announced.

  No one complained. No one asked why they were in a rush. He wondered if Orrade had discussed things with his brother.

  While they undid the harnesses, Piro unpacked the food Florin had given them. Fresh-baked bread, preserves and smoked ham. They perched on the sled frame to give their thigh muscles a rest.

  'I've been thinking, Byren,' Piro announced, finishing her food and slipping off the frame to glide around to face him. Enough starlight reflected from the ice to illuminate her serious face in shades of silver.

  Byren swallowed. 'And?'

  'The only way Cobalt could've lured the manticore pride close enough to turn them loose on us, was if he had Affinity.'