by Roger Taylor
The Warden looked at him, bewildered, but did not reject Rhavvan’s supporting hand as the group set off again. They continued in silence as the dunes gradually merged into undulating countryside. Swathes of purple and white flowers splashed the short turf, and birdsong filled the air. More and more trees and bushes began to appear and it was in a dip at the edge of a small copse that they came to the shoreman’s shelter.
It was a ramshackle collection of stones, weathered timbers and branches, and plaited grasses. As they approached it, a large dog emerged from the trees. Hackles raised, teeth bared and growling ominously it looked at each of the newcomers in turn as it moved towards them. Its slow, deliberate gait was more menacing than any demented charge.
‘Stay here,’ the shoreman said to the others needlessly. He went forward and, squatting down by the dog, spoke to it softly. None of the watchers could hear what he said, but the dog walked a little way from the shelter and lay down. It did not close its eyes however, but kept them fixed on the new arrivals.
‘Fine dog,’ Adren said nervously.
The shoreman grunted. He seemed a little more at ease now. ‘Don’t go near him, and don’t make any sudden movements,’ he said tersely as he disappeared into the shelter. A moment later he emerged with an armful of wood which he took to a small, stone-lined pit. Within minutes a fire was blazing and Thyrn was enthusiastically drying himself and his clothes while the others sat and examined the contents of the Wardens’ packs.
With the unspoken consent of the others, Rhavvan offered the food to the shoreman, but he took only a loaf which he promptly proceeded to cut up and hand around.
‘I’ve plenty of food,’ he said. ‘And I’m not lost. Your need seems to be greater than mine.’
His earlier questions were implicit in the statement and Hyrald introduced himself and the others. The Warden eventually called himself Oudrence.
‘My name’s Endryk,’ the shoreman said.
Rhavvan frowned slightly. ‘That’s not an Arvens name.’
Endryk looked at him, but said nothing.
‘Well, wherever you hail from, it’s our good fortune you were here today and we’re all indebted to you,’ Hyrald said, breaking the awkward silence. He indicated the food again. ‘Are you sure there’s nothing here that you want?’
‘I’ve everything I need,’ Endryk replied. ‘Except an explanation of what you’re all doing here and what possessed you to go so far out on the shore. It’s a dangerous place for even those who know it well.’ He looked around the seated circle and quickly glanced at his watchful dog. Then he looked directly at Hyrald. ‘I heard you shouting and fighting, before you try to tell me there was an accident out there again. The only reason I came near you was because I’d no choice. That’s the only way off the shore.’
Hyrald gave a guilty shrug. ‘I’m sorry. I was just trying to reassure you once I knew you weren’t another attacker. We were lost. We needed your help – more than we realized, as it turned out.’
‘Tell him everything,’ Nordath said. ‘He’s entitled to know. He could have left us, and without him we’d all be dead now.’ He motioned towards Oudrence. ‘And he needs to know if he’s going back. We’ve got to start getting our side of this business widely known somehow.’
Hyrald nodded. He stared into the fire for a moment, wondering where to begin.
‘It’s difficult,’ he said. ‘We’ve nothing to hide, but we really don’t know what’s happened. Or rather, we don’t knowwhy it’s happened.’
He plunged in. ‘The fact is, the Death Cry’s been proclaimed against all of us. We’re trying to get out of the country – to go north until we can find some way of having it annulled. Oudrence here came with two other Wardens to find us, but…’ He grimaced. ‘We killed them when they attacked us.’
Endryk looked at Oudrence, pale and stiff. ‘Why didn’t you kill him, as well?’
It was an unexpectedly cold question. ‘We’re not murderers,’ Hyrald replied angrily. ‘We were attacked, we defended ourselves, we survived. Two died, he didn’t. None of it was of our seeking and what we did – what we’ve done since all this started – we’ll defend before any tribunal.’
Endryk’s face was unreadable. Increasingly, Hyrald noted, he was becoming less and less the frightened man they had encountered on the shore. His response was blunt.
‘You can’t have the Death Cry proclaimed against you and not know what it’s about, still less have the Wardens coming all the way up here to find you. I doubt there’s anyone in Arvenshelm who even knows this place exists.’
‘That’s true enough,’ Rhavvan replied. ‘The only maps we could find of this region are vague to say the least. But what Hyrald’s just told you is true. We were sent to find Thyrn by his employer – Commander Vashnar – our own senior officer. Nothing urgent or particularly unusual – not even the Cry. Just find him and quietly bring him back. Then we’ve no sooner found him than we’re all being hunted. And the Death Cry isn’t something to stand and debate about, is it?’
‘But you’re telling me about it.’
Rhavvan shrugged. ‘As Nordath said, you’re entitled to know. We’ve done nothing wrong and we’ve got to start saying that sooner or later.’
Endryk looked at Thyrn. ‘He doesn’t look particularly dangerous to me. What did you do, young man, to upset your employer so badly?’
Thyrn stared at him blankly.
‘It was a Caddoran matter,’ Nordath answered for him protectively.
Interest flickered briefly in Endryk’s eyes. ‘Caddoran, eh? Heirs to the ancient battle messengers and the great storytellers.’ His face darkened. ‘Reduced to runners for merchants and the Wardens.’
Nordath’s eyes narrowed at the barely disguised sarcasm in his voice. ‘Thyrn’s is a rare gift these days,’ he protested. ‘And being a Caddoran is a respected and useful profession.’
‘I apologize,’ Endryk said, without hesitation. ‘I meant no reproach to the lad. You must forgive me, I’m not used to company.’
He turned to Oudrence. ‘Is all this true, Warden?’
The sudden question made Oudrence start and then flinch as the movement hurt him. ‘I don’t know. There is a Death Cry for them, but I don’t know why. The two I was with said it would put us in well with Commander Vashnar if we found them and brought them back. It seemed like a good idea at the time – the way they explained it.’ He looked round at the others. ‘I didn’t know they were going to attack you like that – not draw on fellow Wardens.’
‘What in mercy’s name did you think they were going to do?’ Rhavvan snapped angrily. ‘Three of you against five? Take us all the way back to Arvenshelm in chains?’
‘I told you, I don’t know,’ Oudrence shouted. ‘I didn’t even know what the Death Cry really meant.’ He was suddenly very young and defensive. ‘I only finished my basic training a few weeks ago. I just did as I was told, followed the others.’
‘They brought him along to do the work, Rhavvan, that’s all,’ Hyrald said dismissively. ‘We’ve done it to new recruits ourselves before now – and had it done to us when we first started.’
‘What… what’ll happen to their bodies?’ The question burst out of Oudrence.
‘From this part of the shore they’ll be washed out to sea,’ Endryk replied gently. ‘They’ll be long gone already. The tide’s very powerful. A few minutes more and we’d all have been lost… horses included.’
The group fell silent. Oudrence put his head in his free hand.
‘What’s the matter with your arm?’ Endryk asked.
‘His shoulder’s broken,’ Rhavvan replied as Oudrence opened his mouth. ‘I just bound it up to keep it still.’
‘I know a little about healing,’ Endryk said. ‘May I look at it?’
Oudrence looked at Rhavvan who shrugged.
Endryk’s examination was markedly more gentle than Rhavvan’s had been, and Oudrence relaxed noticeably as his injured shoulder was carefully tested a
nd manipulated. Seemingly satisfied, Endryk announced, ‘You’re lucky. It’s not broken, just dislocated. Hang on.’ Before Oudrence could respond, Endryk wound his arms about him in an elaborate embrace and then jerked him violently. There was a cracking sound that made all the watchers start and then cringe, and such colour as there was in Oudrence’s cheeks drained away instantly as his mouth opened to draw in a loud breath of disbelief and horror.
‘There, that’s better,’ Endryk said briskly, releasing him and slipping Oudrence’s arm back into Rhavvan’s impromptu sling. ‘It’s going to hurt like hell for a while, but at least it’s back in place. Rest it as much as you can – keep it relaxed.’
Oudrence, staring wide-eyed into the fire, let out the breath he had taken in, in a series of short, distressed gasps.
‘Anyone else got any problems?’ Endryk asked, sitting down and looking expectantly round the circle. A series of vigorous head shakes greeted this inquiry.
‘Will he be fit to move on… on his own?’ Hyrald asked, a little hoarsely.
Endryk nodded. ‘The nearest village is a long day’s walk away, but it’s not difficult. He won’t enjoy it, but he should be all right if he takes it easy. He can rest here tonight – you all can, if you want. I’ll show him the way tomorrow.’
‘We seem to be growing more and more in your debt,’ Hyrald said.
‘You’ve lived too long in Arvenshelm,’ Endryk said. ‘What else could I have done? Left you? Walked on?’
‘Even so…’
‘Nothing you’ve told me makes any sense,’ Endryk interrupted. ‘But that’s the way it is with the Moot and its officers and everything around it.’ He tapped his head. ‘Devoid of logic and reason. Full of self-deception, vanity, corruption.’ His tone was bitter. ‘That someone’s proclaimed the Death Cry – with or without so-called just cause – shows that clearly enough. It’s barbarous – a relic of times long gone!’ He ended abruptly with a gesture of disgust. ‘Just offering you a hand when you were in danger, helping the lad with his injury, incurs no debt. How could I have done less?’
‘I didn’t mean to offend,’ Hyrald replied, taken aback by this sudden passion.
‘You didn’t, you didn’t,’ Endryk said hastily. ‘I didn’t realize I still felt so strongly about such matters. You must forgive me. As I said, I’m not used to company.’
‘Where are you from?’ Rhavvan asked.
‘Or questions,’ Endryk added forcefully. Rhavvan raised an apologetic hand and sat back. ‘If you want to carry on north, I’ll show you the way as well, though it’s at least four days west, inland past the estuary, before there’s a river narrow enough to cross. And it’s no easy crossing.’
‘Have you ever been north?’ Adren asked. Rhavvan looked at Endryk in anticipation of another rebuke, but none came, just a slight nod.
‘What kind of place is it?’ Thyrn burst in, wide-eyed. ‘There’s a great city there, isn’t there? Bigger even than a dozen Arvenshelms. And a land where everyone rides horses…’
‘There are towns and cities, and people,’ Endryk replied quietly. ‘And people are the same everywhere.’
‘Can you tell us anything about these places? Would we be safe there?’ Hyrald asked.
‘From the Death Cry, yes. But you’d be safe from that here. No one in the village, or in any of the villages within a week’s walk, gives a damn about anything that happens in Arvenshelm.’ He chuckled to himself. It was a warming sound. ‘In fact, most of them probably have no idea where Arvenshelm is. Still less what the Moot and Wardens are. It might be that your journey’s ended.’
Hyrald shook his head. ‘They found us once, they’ll find us again. If we stayed, we might only bring trouble to you.’ He let out a noisy breath. ‘We have to leave Arvenstaat. Settle into new lives somewhere until we can find out what’s happened – have the Death Cry set aside.’
‘How are you going to do that from exile?’
Hyrald made a helpless gesture. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. None of us have. We…’
‘Think about it now,’ Endryk said bluntly. ‘While you can. There are other lands to the north, and you could survive there, even live well. But maybe not, too. And this land is yours. Don’t be too anxious to be rid of it. Its roots will go deeper than you know.’
‘We’ve no choice.’
‘There are always choices.’
Hyrald shrugged to end the discussion. He was finding the course of the conversation oddly disturbing. The sun had set and though the sky was still clear, it had become quite dark in the dip.
‘My choice now then is to rest,’ he said, stretching. ‘We’ll accept your offer to stay here tonight, with thanks. This is the first time we’ve stopped running since all this started. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps we need to pause and think for a while. And we’ll certainly need to put today behind us before we can do that.’
Hyrald woke the next day with bright daylight shining in his face. It was obviously long past dawn. Although he was uncomfortable, he felt refreshed. He had envisaged a disturbed and difficult night, cramped as they all were in the shelter and following on the day’s desperate events, but he had gone to sleep as soon as he had lain down. The light was coming through the doorway of the shelter which had been left open and it enabled him to disentangle himself gently from Nordath’s legs. Stiffly he levered himself upright and went outside.
Endryk was talking to the horses, tethered to a nearby tree. Rhavvan was crouched over the fire prodding something in a pan. ‘Very useful, those supplies our colleagues brought.’
Hyrald frowned at the remark. ‘First shade of the day,’ he said. Rhavvan looked up at him questioningly.
‘I was just feeling glad to be awake after a good night’s sleep, and you remind me we killed two of our own yesterday.’ He raised a hand to forestall Rhavvan’s protest. ‘I know. They asked for it. They drew on us. We couldn’t have done anything else. But that doesn’t make it any easier.’
Rhavvan returned to his cooking. ‘It does for me,’ he said. ‘A damned sight easier. For crying out, Hyrald, would you have gone tearing all the way up here on such an errand? They came in blades swinging and they got what they deserved. I’ve taken my stick to a few in my time, but I can count on one hand the number I’ve drawn against – and none of them without damned good justification. Here, sit and eat, it’ll clear your mind – you must’ve got sand in it. It’s got everywhere else!’
Gradually the others emerged from the shelter. Reproach was offered to Hyrald for managing to sleep through Oudrence’s tossing and turning as he had striven unsuccessfully to find a comfortable position, but Hyrald could tell that the events of the previous day and the night’s sleep had somehow renewed the group’s determination.
Despite some initial wariness, not to say downright alarm, on the part of the young Warden, Endryk examined Oudrence’s shoulder again and pronounced it sound.
When they had finished eating – a bizarre mixture of dried meats that the Wardens had carried, and fresh fish that Endryk had provided – Hyrald turned to Oudrence.
‘Time for you to go now, if you’re going,’ he said. He looked at Endryk for confirmation. ‘It’s going to be a fine day. You should make good progress. You’ll be all right once you reach the village, I’m sure. You might even be able to borrow a horse.’ He bent close and looked directly into Oudrence’s eyes. ‘You can tell anyone you meet what’s happened here, and everything we’ve said. When you get back to Arvenshelm – you are from Commander Vashnar’s own district, aren’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, tell Vashnar – tell everyone – the truth. Don’t lie about anything. And tell him we’re going north, but that we’ll be back, and looking for justice when we come. Do you understand?’
Oudrence nodded.
Hyrald answered an unasked question. ‘And don’t blame yourself for what happened to your companions. They were experienced men, they knew what they were doing and the risks
they ran. They misled you and you were lucky not to get killed along with them.’ He turned to Endryk. ‘You can show him the way?’
‘I’ll have to take him part of the way.’
‘How long will you be?’
‘A few hours.’
Hyrald thought for a moment. ‘Take one of the horses,’ he said. ‘We’ll be ready to leave when you get back. I want to make as much progress as possible today.’
* * * *
Thyrn rubbed his hands excitedly. Endryk and Oudrence had been gone some time.
‘West along the coast for about four days, he said. Then across the river and we’ll be there – safe.’
Hyrald thought for a moment then shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ve been thinking. We can’t go on like this. We should go west along the coast, but only until we reach the Karpas Mountains. Then south. Back to Arvenshelm.’
Chapter 4
Apart from two doors, recessed so deeply into the walls that they looked like darkened cave entrances, Bowlott’s office was bounded, floor to ceiling, by shelves. Crooked and bowed by their long service to the Moot, they loomed ominously over the room. Peering over their tilting edges were books and documents of all shapes and sizes; weighty tomes, slender volumes, wax-sealed scrolls, stacks of papers bound with faded ribbons, leaflets, pamphlets, mysterious well-worn boxes, and more than a few wrapped objects not readily identifiable.
Bearing the Moot’s crest and covered with a variety of ponderous and old-fashioned scripts, age-browned labels marked past attempts to bring order to this domain, but, curled and brittle, this slender shield line had been long overwhelmed, leaving confusion to hold the field unchallenged. Unchallenged that is, except for a dusty gauze of ancient cobwebs which brought a certain unity to the tumbled documents on the upper shelves and which was moving steadily downwards like a frayed grey curtain. It petered out at those levels where the spiders, paper-loving insects and small wildlife were diligently continuing their self-appointed task of mummifying the accumulated wisdom of the Moot.