Necromancer's Gambit (The Flesh & Bone Trilogy Book 1)

by A J Dalton

  'Very well, I accept that,' conceded the Head Necromancer once he understood his personal safety was at stake. 'But I insist on being involved in deciding what demands we make of the Guild. And I will send one of my undead lieutenants as part of the embassy to ensure the right demands are made.'

  'General,' the Scourge continued, 'I'd hoped to avoid the whole Accritania versus Dur Memnos dynamic in the parlay. Albeit that the Guild are famous for their neutrality, they will be wary of siding against the enemy of their largest client. I would prefer to give them the impression that this is a matter internal to Dur Memnos, that this is a coup more than an invasion.'

  'I can see that,' General Constantus conceded. 'That is why I will be a part of the embassy in the guise of a renegade general instead. The Guild will have received enough information through their intelligence network to believe that the Accritanian army hardly exists anymore. They will not find it difficult to see me as just another mercenary.'

  The Scourge realised he was not going to be able to dissuade the man, so assented and turned to Kate and Young Strap. 'Strap, you are the best with a bow I have ever seen and eagle-eyed to boot. I would have you there in case any of the mercenaries atop the walls decides to act in defiance of the Guild's decision to parlay. Will you watch my back?'

  The Guardian nodded silently, a slight flush to his cheeks.

  'And Kate, you are another Guardian known to the Guild. The more Guardians we can present in our cause, the more credible we will seem.'

  'I will come with you,' Saltar said simply.

  They all looked at the animee.

  'Why?' Mordius asked on behalf of the group, caught off guard by Saltar speaking up.

  'Do you forget I am the Battle-leader of Dur Memnos? I am the monster known as Balthagar. If I march with this army, then the Guild will have to take it seriously. More than that, I have realised that I will have to lead the front line of this dead army. With so few of you living, you cannot be risked in the thick of battle, which means I will have to lead the dead if they are to have effective direction once battle is joined. As Battle-leader of this army, I insist on being part of the embassy by right.'

  The erratic Savantus was already beginning to foam at the mouth. 'If you think I'm going to allow my lieutenants to take orders from you...!'

  'It's not what I think, it's what I know. It's what I am,' Saltar interrupted mildly.

  Savantus's eyes bulged and the chords on his neck stuck out, such was his anger. 'You will not take my army, you weaseling thief! You know nothing! You do not have the first inkling of my power! You are a mouldy, worm-ridden lump of clay! You are the filth and detritus of humanity! You are the anal scum of Lacrimos! You...'

  Saltar's arm was a blur as it whipped out and broke the Head Necromancer's nose. Blood spattered over all of them in the command group. Savantus's eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled to the ground.

  'Better roll him onto his face so that he doesn't choke on his own blood,' General Constantus said reluctantly, and Captain Vallus used his foot to carry out his general's order.

  Saltar regarded Mordius coldly until the small necromancer was forced to nod. 'Saltar must lead the army.'

  'Are you sure about this?' Kate asked Saltar worriedly.

  'I am sure,' he said. 'For the first time I am sure of what I am and who I am. It is a good feeling.'

  She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. The Scourge felt sick to see her kissing a dead man, but kept quiet for her sake.

  Saltar felt a genuine smile touch his lips. How was it possible that he could smile so? He hadn't thought an animee was capable of it. Was this what came of self-knowledge? Was this what it was to draw close to life? Of course! With the realms of life and death collapsing one into the other, the differences between the living and the dead would become smaller and smaller, at least for a while, until nothing was left. There might even be a brief, glorious moment before the end when he was fully alive and could realise the full extent and wonder of his love for Kate.

  Saltar had initially been prompted to declare he would join the embassy when it had become obvious Kate would be a part of it. He wanted to be there to protect her with his dead body in case the Guild decided to betray the parlay and turn their bows on them. But there had been another reason, one that had crystallised as he spoke to the command group. He had realised that if he was ever to be resurrected, then it would have to be he who made it happen. He would have to grab life and embrace it. He had to become self-actualised in order to live, which by definition meant he would have to initiate all the actions that would produce the desired outcome. It was not something that Mordius could ever do for him. Besides, Mordius's old weaknesses of indecision, self-doubt and timidity had returned in force since a dominant necromancer had arrived on the scene. In short order, Savantus had disrupted the foundations of Mordius's confidence, certainty and drive, of his self-identity even. Savantus had ridiculed and undermined Mordius's devotion to his dead master, Dualor. He had shown Mordius how he had been used all along. He'd implied Dualor had never loved Mordius except in what he could do for him. Mordius was alone in this world, of no meaning to anyone and apparently incapable of exercising his will to achieve ends of his own. He was worthless, nothing.

  No wonder Mordius had raised Saltar to protect Mordius from others. It wasn't just physical protection that Mordius needed, but emotional as well. Maybe this emotional aspect was actually one of the dimensions of necromatic magic. Saltar shrugged mentally, ignorant of the detail. But think how vulnerable Mordius would be if ever faced with Voltar, the most puissant practitioner of the necromatic arts! Would Saltar even be able to protect Mordius?

  What was clear was that Saltar could no longer rely on his animateur for anything. Saltar would have to do everything for the two of them. It was as if Mordius was all but dead in this world. Yes, Mordius was now an animee where Saltar was the necromancer. It had to be another example of the two realms collapsing into each other, the living becoming the dead and the dead becoming the living. Now he thought about it, all the others in the command group had begun to show instabilities in their personalities, Kate included. Were their personalities beginning to unravel or fragment, just as Shakri's realm fragmented? It made sense. After all, this realm was created from Shakri's magic, and that magic was fragmenting. What had Mordius said about necromatic magic once? That at its heart there was always a paradox and that that paradox would always ultimately unravel and destroy the very magic that it was built upon. Was the life of Shakri's magic just a more sophisticated form of a necromatic spell, then? Was the paradox of life in death and death in life finally unravelling? It would explain how a mortal necromancer like Voltar would be able to challenge the gods themselves, for the gods themselves were necromancers. And it would explain how the living dead, an animee like Saltar, could threaten Voltar in seeking resurrection to full life.

  It could not be a coincidence that Saltar's aim to find out who he truly was, and then to find resurrection, required him to end the war and wrest the Heart from Voltar. It was more than a simple convergence of time and place: his aim was the essential antithesis of Voltar's ambition for total conquest.

  Saltar staggered with revelation, and the command group had to steady him. 'I know what we have to do,' he told them. 'It is inevitable now. The days of the apocalypse are upon us and cannot be turned back. We enter the last battle in a war I have led for hundred, if not thousands, of years. I have always led it and now it will finally be played out. I am the Battle-leader Balthagar in both this realm and the other. Don't you see?'

  The Scourge pulled a face and spat. 'You're still a misbegotten animee as far as I'm concerned. Still I'll accept you as Battle-leader, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.'

  'You're all heart, Scourge!' Kate said.

  'And I don't trust him either!' her commander added for good measure.

  ***

  The white flag of parlay was shown by both sides and Saltar led the embas
sy that included the Guardians and General Constantus to the table and chairs that had been set up by the mercenaries beneath the main gates of Holter's Cross. They stood waiting nervously, Young Strap with an arrow nocked to his bow and Kate with her crossbow loaded, although the latter would not have the range and accuracy to trouble those atop the battlements.

  Finally, the gates swung open and a line of four Guildmasters in rich robes emerged, followed by four muscled retainers carrying a mounted chair. The chair was brought to the negotiating table and lowered to the ground. Grand Guildmaster Thaeon descended and moved slowly to the central and largest throne on the Guild side of the table. He was a wrinkled, old thing with not a hair in his head except for the long white ones that protruded from his nostrils and from deep inside his ears. There was a slight shake to his hands and a permanent crook in his back, but his black eyes were quick and lively. The four lower Guildmasters then seated themselves two to each side of their leader.

  Saltar sat across from Thaeon, with General Constantus and the Scourge at his elbows. On the far sides of them sat Kate and Young Strap. There was a period of silence while each group sized up the other. The wind whistled as if it was a bored audience waiting for entertainment. Saltar inclined his head slightly to Thaeon, inviting the elder to speak first, as per protocol.

  'Who dares threaten the gates of the Guild of Holter's Cross?' Thaeon demanded in a nasal and waspish voice.

  'I am Balthagar, Battle-leader of the armies of Dur Memnos,' Saltar informed him, declining to introduce his companions.

  'Are you now? We heard you were dead, Battle-leader.'

  'I am as you see me before you, Grand Guildmaster.'

  Thaeon harrumphed. 'Under our local by-laws, it is a crime to disrupt the business of the Guild. The presence of your unholy assemblage is doing precisely that.'

  'It may be possible for us to make some recompense to you. Indeed, it is the very business of the Guild that brings us here. Grand Guildmaster, we would like to contract the Guild's services.'

  One of the portly Guildmasters raised his eyebrows in interest, and the Scourge recognised him as the one he had dealt with on his last visit. Another of the Guildmasters snorted with derision, but there was only amusement evident on Thaeon's face. He is enjoying this! Saltar realised. An old man who still retains a keen intellect will quickly become bored with life and seek out danger with an enthusiasm that shows no concern for himself or others. The animee groaned inwardly as he realised he was unlikely to be allowed to expedite this negotiation as quickly as they needed. As long as Thaeon found the tense stand-off diverting, he would seek to have it become protracted. Saltar resolved to change tactics and make things as uncomfortable as possible for the Grand Guildmaster.

  'I'm afraid all our mercenary crews are currently engaged,' Thaeon related with mock disappointment. 'Business has been good of late and we find ourselves with something of a backlog.' Thaeon conferred in whispers with the Guildmaster to his right and then said, 'I think we could accommodate you in say a year from now? We could let you have a hundred men or so.'

  As Saltar, and no doubt Thaeon, had expected, this was too much for the Scourge, who exploded with anger. 'By the anal retention of Cognis, man, do you seek to insult us? Can you not see the army of the dead encamped on your doorstep? How can you talk of one year?!'

  Thaeon refused to look at the Scourge immediately, instead bending his ear to the Guildmaster to his left, the one who was familiar with the Scourge. Then Thaeon regarded the old warrior with contempt. 'Yes, we know who you are. You are the King's Scourge, or are you no longer the King's? Just the Scourge then. You are a traitor!'

  Another goad for the Scourge. Saltar clamped his hand on the Scourge's forearm to forestall his heated response. 'Thaeon,' Saltar said, deliberately dropping the honorific title from his address to the Grand Guildmaster, 'the Guild does not recognise issues of loyalty or morality, does it? The Guild has never, therefore, been in a position to accuse others of betrayal, has it? All that the Guild recognises is the letter of the contract and the fulfilment or not of that contract. Are you telling us that that has now changed? Has the Guild then taken a side in this war?'

  Thaeon's jaw almost dropped but then it clamped firmly shut. He knew he had almost been manoeuvred into an untenable position. His eyes flickered as his brain made a new set of calculations. 'We also know the errant Accritanian general at your side. And the two boisterously wayward Guardians there. It is not the Guild's practice to do business with such unreliable clients.'

  So here it was, the Guild's first refusal. 'If you do not do business with us now, Thaeon, we will ensure that you never do business again. We will pay double whatever the Crown has offered you.'

  Thaeon licked his thin lips with a pointed, darting tongue. Reptilian, Saltar thought. 'The Guild usually asks for payment in advance to offset the risk in any large venture.'

  'Risk, risk!' Saltar mused slowly, turning it into another implicit threat. 'There is risk in everything we do, risk that is irrelevant to the bits of shiny metal known by mortals as coin. How can such bits of metal save a man's life unless they are forged into chainmail and armour? Once that armour is penetrated, how can the metal then stop the blood pouring from a man's veins? It can't. No problem, the Guild says, simply get more men. What happens when those men begin to run out? If we were to massacre half your number Thaeon, where would you replace them from? You know the countryside is all but empty. You know the kingdom is dying. You know Accritania is already in its death throes. You have sold Shakri's gift for a handful of coin, Thaeon. What are you going to do about the risk that you'll be unable to buy that gift back when you most need it?'

  Thaeon frowned as he sorted through all the implications of what Saltar said. The four Guildmasters next to him had suddenly lost their smug and sanctimonious air. They looked at their leader with silent appeal.

  'Come on, you old crow!' Constantus urged him.

  Thaeon blinked in confusion. Finally, he managed to frame a sensible, if guarded, response. 'What do you offer us, then, in addition to coin?'

  'We offer you life, Thaeon. We offer you the Heart of Harpedon, a necromatic item that can extend your life beyond its poverty of years.'

  'You can't let him have it!' Kate protested.

  'You have this item?' Thaeon asked with naked greed.

  'We march to retrieve this item, Thaeon,' Saltar promised him.

  'It's alright!' General Constantus whispered to Kate. 'This is a gambit that must be played.'

  Suddenly mistrustful, Thaeon said, 'We will withdraw now and consider the terms of your offer. You will have our answer before sunset today. I must consult with the Guild.'

  'Not a moment beyond sunset, Grand Guildmaster!' Saltar warned as the retainers moved in to help Thaeon into his mounted chair.

  The Guildmasters returned to their city and Saltar's embassy was left standing alone before the heavy gates of Holter's Cross. They turned and began to make their way back to their lines. Young Strap stayed at the back of his group, keeping an eye out for any threatening movement along the battlements of Holter's Cross. He looked forward again to see what progress the embassy was making. He had a clear sight of the Scourge's back.

  It would be so easy to do it now. All he had to do was raise his bow. He aimed along the length of his arrow and began to draw back on the string. Kill the Scourge, the voice of his beloved whispered in his ear. Such a small thing, but it was a step towards freeing his beloved from a dreadful and impossible tyranny. The bowstring reached its full extension and Young Strap waited for the current swell of the wind to fall away. He found the moment of stillness that guaranteed the skill and released.

  In the same instant as he released, a hand clamped itself on the yew of the bow and pushed it down. Inevitably, the arrow speared harmlessly into the earth a few metres ahead of him. He tried to yank his bow free. An unbreakable grip immobilised his arm and he found himself staring up into Saltar's unforgiving eyes. None of the oth
ers had noticed the altercation yet. Where had the animee come from?

  'You will only kill another living person at my command, do you understand?'

  'Yes!' Young Strap said automatically, and it was as if a fog cleared from his mind. He gasped as he realised what he had almost done. 'I-I don't know how I could... how this has just happened,' he said in confusion.

  'You were not yourself,' Saltar said simply. ‘We are all unravelling, along with this world around us. It is always easier to destroy than create. Death, murder and chaos are so attractive, persuasive and compelling, Young Strap. Life, creation and wonder are reflective, soothing and debilitating by contrast. One is the dynamic of doing, while the other is the essence of being. Both are necessary, Young Strap, for neither can exist alone. Always remember that life must be guarded where it can, and that death should only be allowed where there is no alternative.'

  ***

  Sunset came and went without any word from within the city. To the horror of the command group, Saltar insisted that they attack that very night.

  'The longer we wait, the greater the advantage to the Guild. Thaeon will no doubt try to get a message to Corinus to see if they are prepared to make an offer to counter our own. It is in the Guild's interest, as far as Thaeon sees it, to create a bidding war. He is sly and knows that with every passing day our position will get weaker. We cannot afford the delay or loss of position.'

  Mordius spoke up tentatively, Savantus nodding encouragement: 'Could it not simply be that Thaeon needs longer to win the agreement of the rest of the Guild? I imagine a convocation of the Guild could take all night. Can't we wait until morning and demand an answer then?'

  The Scourge shook his head with a sigh. 'In my heart, I know Saltar is right. Were we to wait until morning, the Guild would simply ask for another parlay. Then, Thaeon would send others out to delay things even more. They might even claim the Grand Guildmaster had fallen ill.'