The Complete Twilight Reign Ebook Collection

by Tom Lloyd

  ‘Planning on being elsewhere?’

  ‘No – but he might well test you alone.’ She returned her attention to the Carastars ahead just as a cloud began to advance across Alterr and the moonlit ground around them began to dim. ‘What’s more, the closer we get to Vanach, the more likely there will be mages, and I doubt any are tolerated outside the Commissar Brigade. If they see how strong we are, they may perceive us as a threat.’

  ‘You want to kill every mage we meet?’

  Zhia laughed. ‘No – I’m saying we might have to.’

  They rode on in silence. Isak tried to follow the three men he’d sent off on foot, but they had disappeared entirely before they had gone twenty yards and he quickly gave up staring out across the still plain. When he looked down, he realised Hulf was also gone, but the dog had vanished just as silently; he had adapted to the witch’s tattoos as quickly as any of the Brotherhood or Ghosts. He realised there was nothing he could do about it; he’d have to rely on the fact that Hulf wouldn’t attack a man unless he was going for Isak.

  No Carastar will see or hear him. Maybe it’s better Hulf keeps away; he’ll most likely get trampled in a fight.

  They covered the remaining ground quickly, the soldiers among them surreptitiously loosening the ties on their weapons as they rode. Half-anticipating the flash of a crossbow bolt at any moment, Isak found himself angling his scarred belly away from the trees where the mercenaries were waiting.

  ‘That’s far enough!’ called a gravelly voice in the Narkang dialect. ‘Throw down your weapons and dismount.’

  Doranei glanced back at Isak, who nodded to him.

  ‘Why?’ The King’s Man demanded on behalf of them all. ‘Sounds like a stupid idea with all the dangerous sorts round here.’

  ‘Your choice,’ laughed the Carastar. ‘Keb!’

  Nothing happened. A hail of arrows failed to leap from beneath the trees. In the hush, Isak thought he heard a grunt of puzzled consternation before the speaker gave another shout: ‘Keb, Dass – shoot him!’

  Still nothing happened, and after a minute or two Doranei gestured for the group to keep on moving – at which point two men armed with spears broke from cover and charged towards them. Before anyone else could react, Daken had hurled his axe over-arm; it caught the nearest in the chest and smashed him to the ground in a spray of blood. The second mercenary yelped and threw himself to one side, abandoning his spear in his terror and ending up on his knees with his friend’s blood running down his cheeks.

  The white-eye slid from his saddle and walked unconcernedly over to him to retrieve his axe. Another Carastar ran to intercept him before he could retrieve his weapon, but Mihn appeared from the lee of a tree, swinging his staff. He caught the man in the gut and sent him wheezing to the ground.

  A second appeared, lunging with a spear, but Mihn had already skipped out of the way as though performing some dainty dance and before the mercenary could react he had lifted one leg and slapped his bare sole against the shaft of the spear, sending the head plunging down into the ground. Without pausing, Mihn snapped his leg forward and kicked the Carastar in the face with enough force to knock the man flat.

  ‘Enough!’ shouted a new voice from the trees. ‘No more killing.’

  Doranei cocked his head at the new speaker: this one wasn’t a Narkang mercenary, as the first had been; most likely that was a Vanach accent, which meant he was a commissar.

  ‘We claim the sanctuary of Alterr’s light,’ Doranei announced, hoping it meant something to the man.

  There was a pause.

  ‘The first sign?’ the commissar asked in a stunned voice, more to himself than any other. The shock of Doranei’s claim seemed to have driven the wind from his lungs, and when he emerged into the moonlight the man walked as though dazed. He was a large man with thick limbs, much to Isak’s surprise. They were renowned as blackmailers and cruel bullies, using fear and spiteful words to turn men against each other, so Isak had expected some sort of rat-faced weakling who hid behind his authority.

  The commissar wore a basic brown tunic and trousers, his lack of armour and the pale scarf around his neck making him stand out from the merceneries. In the dark it wasn’t clear what colour it was, but Doranei guessed at pale yellow, an echo of the greater moon above them, since Alterr was the dominant God here.

  ‘You claim Alterr’s sanctuary? I – forgive me, it has been a long time since my days of instruction. I had almost forgotten—And the mysteries of … ’ He tailed off, but then visibly rallied as he remembered what he had learned when first inducted into the ranks of the commissars. ‘You must number twelve.’

  Doranei inclined his head to concede the point. ‘Veil, Leshi.’

  In complete silence the pair picked their way out from the darkness of the trees and stood with weapons drawn as the commissar counted them again.

  ‘You are twelve,’ he said eventually, adopting as dignified an air as he could muster. ‘Lady Alterr blesses you with her light, and so you may travel safely so long as you do so.’ He turned to the copse. ‘Captain, you and your men may come out.’

  ‘Rather not, if it’s all the same ta you,’ the Carastar replied nervously. ‘I’ve heard talk o’ the mysteries and the halls o’ the ziggurat. Some sort o’ saviour or prophecy, right?’

  ‘It is a prophecy,’ the commissar said, ‘but one beyond your comprehension – only the most faithful of Alterr’s servants are revealed the mysteries, so you should not gossip or speculate.’

  ‘Aye, I won’t. My point being, we didn’t know who you all were, sirs and ladies, before you announced yourselves. Don’t mean no disrespect, but given we almost made a terrible mistake there, I’d sooner slip away right now rather than show my face.’

  The commissar was momentarily speechless, flustered both by the ancient legend standing before him and astonished that his orders had been questioned for once. Even the Carastars were subject to the rule of the Commissar Brigade; the captain knew to defer to him.

  ‘No disrespect will be taken,’ Doranei interjected before the commissar could recover himself. ‘We would not object.’

  ‘You—? Well, then, as you wish, Captain.’ The commissar shook his head in puzzlement, but he was not going to countermand Doranei’s statement. ‘Wait for me at the camp – but first send your fastest rider on ahead to Ghale Outpost and inform the ranking commissar there that the first sign has been revealed. He will know what to do and make arrangements for our guests.’

  He bowed low to Isak’s party as the sound of men retreating came from the trees. ‘My name is Commissar Yokar,’ he said, peering at Doranei and then Zhia, before scrutinising Isak as the largest among them and Vesna as the most regal. His knowledge of their prophecies would be limited by his rank, but he clearly expected one of them to stand out and show him what the mysteries expected.

  ‘I am at your disposal. Might I – might I ask who is the leader of your group?’

  There was a pause before Isak nudged his horse forward. ‘I am.’

  ‘I am honoured to be in your presence. Might I ask my Lord’s name?’

  ‘Sebe,’ he replied as he slid the shawl from his head and saw Yokar visibly flinch when he saw Isak’s battered face, but he managed to keep silent. ‘My name is Sebe.’

  The commissar was too overawed to notice Doranei’s reaction to the name, but it took only the smallest movement from Zhia to keep the King’s Man quiet. They all knew the king and Isak had agreed he should not use his own name, to avoid provoking months of religious debate. Isak had said that if their mission was to become famous, it deserved to be in the name of a man whose renown had been missed by the Land at large.

  ‘My Lord Sebe,’ the commissar said awkwardly, unsure how to address the white-eye, ‘I cannot offer you an escort according to the lore, but should you need supplies or horses, you have only to command me.’

  ‘That will not be necessary.’ Isak replaced the shawl to keep Alterr’s light off his face. ‘We have
a long way to travel before dawn, so you may return to your work.’

  Seeing the exchange was at an end, Doranei and Zhia started off again across the moonlit grass. The tattooed soldiers leaped back onto their horses and fell in behind their lord, and they all moved off quickly. The commissar was left alone and staring after them. He jumped as Isak turned in his saddle and clicked his tongue, then stumbled backwards when a grey shape broke from the trees opposite.

  Hulf trotted out into the open and regarded Yokar. Man and dog watched each other suspiciously for a few moments before Hulf gave an unexpected sneeze and turned after Isak, dismissing the commissar with a swish of his tail. When thick cloud crossed both moons Hulf seemed to disappear entirely and that was enough for Yokar. The commissar fled back into the trees.

  An hour before dawn the party reached what appeared to be an abandoned farmstead and Isak called a halt. While the soldiers of the group went on to investigate, Isak eased himself off his charger and watched Legana do the same. Vesna had offered the Mortal-Aspect a hand, knowing her balance was permanently affected by the loss of her Goddess, but she had ignored him. Even when she stumbled and had to grab the saddle to steady herself, she shrugged off any attempts to help.

  Isak watched Vesna frown at the display of independence, but he said nothing, just stayed as her side until she had recovered herself and glared at him. Dismissed, Karkarn’s Iron General trudged back to his horse and led it to the dilapidated corral where Ebarn and Tiniq were starting to rub down the horses.

  Isak followed. He nudged his friend as his horse was taken off him. ‘You’ve been quiet.’

  Vesna’s frown deepened. ‘Not much to say.’ He headed around the back of the corral, away from their companions to a break in the trees behind, through which he could see the western sky where the sun would soon rise. The colours of night were already bleeding from the sky, but Isak knew Vesna saw none of it. The neat patter of paws behind them told him Hulf had joined them and on instinct Isak knelt down and drew the dog close.

  All of a sudden Vesna’s head sagged and his legs wavered. Gods-granted strength or not, the famous warrior would have fallen to his hands and knees had Isak not jumped up and reached out to steady the man. He guided Vesna to a wide tree-stump a few yards away, sat him down and sat on the ground himself, while Hulf inveigled his way under Vesna’s thigh until he was sitting between the man’s legs and looking up, begging for attention.

  Vesna gave a bitter, pained laugh and began to scratch the dog behind one ear with his un-armoured hand. Hulf arched appreciatively and tilted his head until he was pressing against the Mortal-Aspect’s leg.

  ‘He’ll never get too much of that,’ Isak commented.

  ‘Mihn said Ehla gave him to you?’

  ‘So he tells me. I don’t really remember.’ He winced and pressed his fingers to his temple. One fingernail had refused to grow back after his time in Ghenna and the rest were marked strangely, symbols or some strange script cut into the skin beneath. ‘The time after my escape … I see the cottage by the lake, and figures around me, but they’re like ghosts in the mist.’

  ‘We all are now,’ Vesna commented sadly, peering down at Hulf’s bright eyes. ‘I feel like we’ve slipped out of life, as if we’re just shadows hunting for the bodies we once possessed.’

  ‘Some of us are,’ Isak replied with a slight smile. He put a hand on Vesna’s shoulder. ‘But not you – you, my friend, have greatness ahead of you.’

  ‘Greatness? All I feel is emptiness like ice.’

  ‘That’s because you mourn, right down to the bone. Tila’s death hurt us all, but your loss was greatest and there’s nothing can ease your pain. I’m sorry. But she saw the greatness in you; the strength not only to survive but overcome.’

  ‘You speak to me of strength?’ Vesna asked, astonished, ‘when it chills me to even imagine what you endured?’

  ‘We white-eyes, we’re born to survive, to wade through rivers of blood until we’ve reached our goal.’ Isak tried to smile but the effort defeated him. ‘We’re tools to be used; I see that now. Whatever purpose the Gods or Aryn Bwr sought to use me for, I’ve found my own path – but the white-eyes are the bloody hand of history. We’re not equipped for what happens after victory; we must leave that to greater men.’

  Vesna glanced back at the house behind, where a light now shone through the shutters. It was too bright for a lamp; it had to have been cast by one of the mages. ‘You’re not alone there. Perhaps it would be best for some of us if we did not survive this war.’

  ‘Enough of us’ll die already; there’s no need to seek it out. His hand will reach for us all in due time.’

  ‘So we just have to wait our turn?’

  Isak shrugged and rose, offering a hand to Vesna. The Mortal-Aspect took it, but he did not rise immediately, instead taking a moment to stare at the strange contrast between the two. Each man had used his left hand: Isak’s scarred and white, Vesna’s a black metal gauntlet. They interlocked like some esoteric symbol, a curious symmetry that seemed to hearten Vesna.

  ‘Let’s hope history doesn’t think me a fool, then, wallowing in my personal misery when the fates of every man, woman and child hang in the balance.’

  ‘You are far from a fool, my friend,’ Isak said. He hauled Vesna up and pushed him towards the house. ‘Only a monster wouldn’t feel the pain.’

  The pair slowly made their way back to the front of the house. It was a large building, considering the remote location, and looked as if it had been abandoned for several seasons. Rampant creeper swarmed over the nearside walls, so thick that when someone inside tried to opened the shutter, the mass hanging off the roof obscured their face entirely. Isak watched as the person hacked away at the worst of it while Hulf stalked the twitching trails at the base of the wall with geat delight.

  On the other side of the building was a half-collapsed barn and animal pens, none of which looked safe to enter. Daken was standing beside the barn, surveying it, then he gave the whole thing an almighty kick and hastened its downfall. The groan and snap of timbers seemed to satisfy the destructive little child in him and he turned away with a wide grin.

  ‘Ain’t running out o’ firewood today,’ he commented brightly, accompanying them inside. ‘Piss and daemons; this the best we could do?’

  Isak inspected the interior over Vesna’s shoulder. It was not so very different from the cottage by the lake where he’d lived so recently. The smell was more the musty scent of slowly rotting wood, but there was no stink of bodies, human or animal, nor mould. There was little furniture beyond a broken table and two benches, but it was an improvement on spending the day out in the open. He knew Zhia at least would agree with him. ‘It’ll do for the day,’ he said out loud, prompting nods from several others.

  Veil had already collected a great armful of kindling which he was unloading into a brick-walled firepit at the back of the room. A rough clay chimney had been incorporated into the wall behind. Isak took the largest pieces of kindling and lit them, holding them just below the chimney; when the smoke rose up freely and he was sure it was clear he dropped the sticks into the pit, let Veil put the rest of the kindling down, then watched as Doranei deposited two logs on top. He lit the lot and watched the flames start to hungrily consume the wood, for a while losing himself in the dancing orange flames.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Fei Ebarn said as she came in ahead of Tiniq. ‘This house looks sound enough – so why was it abandoned?’

  ‘Most likely the owner got marched off for some transgression or other,’ Shinir said darkly as she rooted through her pack, ‘and out here, there’s no one to take the place once it’s empty.’

  ‘Marched off where?’

  ‘Slave camps, though they’re not called that, o’ course. No one’s allowed to own another human in Vanach, but they say everyone belongs to Alterr, so some – lots – get taken off to serve their Goddess in whichever ways the Commissar Brigade chooses. They don’t want anyone but
the Carastars within a couple days’ ride of the border; makes it simple to work out if you’re fleeing the benevolent fellowship.’

  ‘So this land’s used for nothing?’

  Shinir nodded. ‘You’ll see: two days of riding and we’ll reach the first town. From there on, nothing’s allowed more than one day away from any local administration. You grow crops past that, you’re trying to evade the moral guidance of the commissars – and by extension, the priesthood and the Gods themselves—’

  ‘—which means you’re a heretic,’ Vesna finished, ‘and we’ve seen enough of that talk in Tirah to guess how they treat heretics here.’

  ‘This farm must have been used by a commissar in recent years,’ Shinir said. ‘The edict for the protection of souls was issued ten years back, well before this place was abandoned.’

  Isak crouched down in front of the fire as the flames continued to rise. ‘“The protection of souls?” Vorizh really is mad.’

  ‘If it was he who issued it,’ Zhia said quietly from behind Isak, ‘then he has much to answer for here.’

  Isak turned and saw the dark, angry gleam in her eyes. ‘You don’t think he did?’

  ‘My brother might be mad, but capable of self-delusion? I’m not so sure. We were all cursed to feel the suffering of others, and even now I feel a sickness in my stomach for what we might find around this first town. If he is the one issuing orders from the heart of Vanach, he will be constantly pained by the suffering he is causing.’

  ‘I can tell you what we’ll find,’ Shinir growled, unafraid of the expression on Zhia’s face, ‘guarded farms, where slaves must pray all night and work all day, where it must be their fault if the crops fail – it can’t be the soil suffering without crop rotation because Alterr’s light nourishes all. The women get raped as often as the guards want, and strangled if they become pregnant, because a baby’s a divine blessing which no heretic would get. It can’t be the rape that gets her that way, so she must have been consorting with daemons instead, and so she’ll be carrying a daemon-child.’