by Hugh Cook
'Satisfied?' said Hearst.
'I think it'll heal,' said Miphon.
'Let's hope we live long enough to find out.'
The southern border drew steadily nearer. Toward the end of the day, they began to make out the details of how things had changed. A number of small mountains had moved, but most had not gone far. One had made the mistake of blundering into the sea; withdrawing from the water, it had parked itself half-way across the open seashore strip where the Salt Road ran; there was now only a breach some two hundred paces wide to guard against the Swarms.
'No sign of any of the Swarms,' said Blackwood.
i'm not surprised!' said Miphon.
In the very recent past, they had smashed thousands and thousands of the creatures of the Swarms as they drove a mountain toward Estar. Since then, a death-stone had been used against the Swarms at the border. Obviously the enemy had taken fearful losses; it was scarcely surprising that their advance had been checked.
The fire dyke and the makeshift fortifications the travellers had seen when they skirted the border had disappeared without a trace, obliterated by monstering mountains or the action of the death-stone.
'Somewhere here,' said Blackwood, peering ahead, 'is Valarkin.'
'With a death-stone,' said Miphon.
'Charming,' said Hearst.
'We'll make an alliance with him,' said Miphon, with 537
determination in his voice. 'We have to. He has a death-stone. He may also have the green bottle.'
'Alish said - ' began Blackwood.
'Don't believe what Alish said about the green bottle,' said Miphon. 'Nobody would give away anything like that. Someone's got it right now, and the obvious person is Valarkin.'
'So we find Valarkin,' said Hearst.
'That's right,' said Miphon. 'Then I seal the border with this mountain. Then we wait, so I can be sure it doesn't move away until it's frozen back into inert stone.'
'But if we wait,' protested Blackwood, 'we'll be at danger from the Neversh!'
'We owe our grief a death,' said Hearst grimly.
But, if the Rovac warrior had commitments to death, Blackwood did not. Now that they had come so far, now that they had survived so much, there was no way that he could accept death as inevitable. Well, perhaps the Neversh would not attack them during the two or three days they would have to wait at the border. Perhaps -
'Look!' said Hearst, pointing. 'To the east! Something on that bald mountain-top!'
'Are you sure?' said Miphon.
i don't see anything!' said Blackwood.
'Bear east,' commanded Hearst.
Miphon hinted to the mountain. His subtle urging made Maf slow, then veer east. He was getting good at this.
As they drew near the bald mountain Hearst had indicated, they saw a tent, a banner, a handful of men.
'Valarkin must be there,' said Hearst.
'We'd better not go closer,' said Blackwood. 'We may frighten him.'
'Frighten him!' said Hearst. T don't care if we frighten him out of his breakfast! If we're going to have to bargain with him, let's soften him up first.'
i don't think - ' began Blackwood.
'Good,' said Hearst. 'We've no need for thinking now. Just action.'
They came closer and closer to the tent, which was perched on a sheer cliff face. As they came within hailing distance, men, terrified, stared at them in awestricken silence.
'Hoy,' yelled Hearst. 'You on the mountain!'
Nobody responded.
They seemed paralysed by terror.
'There's Valarkin!' said Blackwood. 'By the tent!'
Valarkin! Yes, Blackwood was right.
'Hello there, Valarkin!' roared Hearst.
Straight away, Valarkin whipped out the death-stone.
'No, Valarkin,' shouted Hearst. 'No!'
But it was too late. Valarkin cried out in the High Speech. And Miphon shouted:
'Segenarith!'
Valarkin cried out in pain as the death-stone grew hot in his hand. He dropped it. His men were running in panic, scattering in all directions.
'Come back!' yelled Blackwood. 'Come back, we'll take you aboard! Back here, or you're dead!'
But, if anyone heard him, nobody obeyed.
'Leave them,' said Hearst, harshly. 'Let's get out of here.'
Miphon began to urge the mountain. Slowly, as the fire of the death-stone grew and grew, the mountain backed off. They watched as a fireball swallowed the cliff-top. Valarkin must be dead by now - unless he had run swiftly, or unless, perhaps, he did have the green bottle in his possession, and had been able to take refuge.
Night was now falling.
By dawn, the southern border of Estar was a sea of flame as the death-stone, frustrated by the Ultimate Injunction, the command Segenarith, released its energies as heat. Steam rose in clouds from the sea where
molten rock ran into the water. By now, the mountain of Maf had withdrawn ten leagues from the border.
Miphon made the mountain lie down on its side - a long, slow, difficult manoeuvre. The travellers descended to the ground, then Miphon made the mountain stand again.
Then Miphon used all his skill, talent and strength to work on the mind of Maf, and sent the mountain roaring south. His instructions would take it south into the fire raging on the border. It would stand in that fire. Heat would fuse rock with rock. The mountain would block the way that led into Estar, thus closing the border to all creatures of the Swarms except the Neversh.
it is done,' said Miphon.
And Hearst, with something almost like disappointment, realised that they had triumphed - and that he was still alive.
Now he had to make a life for himself.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
On a cold winter's day in the land of Estar, a man named Morgan Hearst found the drained body of a man named Elkor Alish. In days past, they had been friends; they had shared the same shadow down many roads. Then Elkor Alish had betrayed his friend, had tried to kill him and had cost him his right hand.
There had been harsh words and bad blood between them; they had led armies against each other; their swords had crossed in anger, blade against blade. Yet Morgan Hearst stood by the body of Elkor Alish, and said Words of Guiding for the dead man's soul.
Where does friendship end and love begin? Amongst the Rovac, it was a question never asked; they lived close enough to the cutting edge of death to value any human loyalty as an alliance against the darkness.
'Be at peace,' said Hearst.
Then he took a ring and a red bottle from the dead man's husk, and, helped by his friends Miphon and Blackwood, raised a funeral pyre, and burnt the mortal remnants of Elkor Alish.
Then they resumed their journey, heading north.
Reaching the Hollern River, they found, to their amazement, that Melross Hill was now topped by a chaotic disorder of smashed stone and torn earth, through which, at random intervals, fire billowed up.
'What a mess!' said Miphon.
'Positively stochastic,' said Blackwood, nodding agreement.
'That reminds me,' said Miphon. 'We never did finish the question of free will, did we?'
'Well,' said Hearst, 'Let's go into town and settle it over a drink or three.'
Whatever had smashed Castle Vaunting - and it could only have been a free-ranging mountain - had missed Lorford, where there were now a few dozen hovel-style shacks. The travellers trudged down the Salt Road toward the shacks.
'We'll build a city here,' said Hearst.
'Will we?' said Blackwood.
'Of course,' said Hearst. 'Who's to rule Estar now, but us? Who's to guard the borders against the Swarms, but us? We've got the death-stone, the red bottle, and an army in the bottle. We've got what we need.'
Blackwood was startled by this. They were to be rulers? Princes? Kings? Well...
He had to admit it was possible.
As they closed with the shacks, shouting children roused the people out to meet the strangers. Coming closer, Blackw
ood saw faces he half-recognised from days past.
Then, suddenly:
'Mystrel!'
A woman ran forward, and Blackwood ran to meet her. A moment later, they were in each other's arms, crying.
'I thought you were dead,' said Blackwood, i couldn't get back to you, I thought you were dead.'
'What?' said Mystrel, laughing, laughing and crying at the same time. 'The men all go away and the women promptly drop dead? Not so, mister, not so.'
And then they said nothing more, for they were too busy holding each other.
Shortly, they were all seated round a table of sorts in a house of sorts drinking a liquor of sorts, allegedly made out of fermented fish - 'Hell's grief!' said Hearst,
tasting it - and all talking at once at roughly the speed of thought.
And Mystrel told all about her wild times with the refugees in the Barley Hills, about pirates and bandits, storms and famine, mad dogs and toadstool poisoning, and, finally, the return to Lorford.
'But how did you ever get out of Castle Vaunting in the first place?' said Blackwood. 'How, when the mad-jewel was guarding it?'
'The fodden led us out,' said Mystrel. 'Some of us, at any rate. It got us clear.'
'Oh,' said Blackwood, looking around. 'Where is it?'
i strangled it.'
'You what?'
'It had been feeding on something, in the castle. I asked it what. It was stupid enough to tell me.' 'And what had it been feeding on?' 'You don't want to know.' 'Tell me,' said Blackwood. Mystrel told him. He was shocked. He said so.
'I'm shocked,' said Blackwood. Then, Mystrel's horror-story having awakened a certain line of thought: 'But your child? What happened . . ?'
'Oh!' said Mystrel, smacking her forehead. 'How could I? Of course.' She raised her voice to a shout: 'Nickle!'
Shortly, a young woman entered, bearing a sturdy boy-child of a little more than a year's growth.
'Nickle is my helper,' said Mystrel, explaining. 'And the child . . . Blackwood, meet your son, Greenwood.'
Hearst rose to his feet, and lifted his cup.
'A toast,' said Hearst, i propose a toast. Ladies. Gentlemen. Girls. Boys. Dogs, rats. And any priests and princes present. A toast, I say. To the future!'
'I'll drink to that!' said Miphon.
As did they all.
('Hell's grief,' said Hearst again, as the liquor clawed at his throat - but that didn't stop him drinking to the next toast which came along.)
That night, Blackwood dreamt that he slept in safety in Lorford with his son and his wife at his side; he woke to the light of dawn, and found, to his relief, that the dream was true.
THE END
About this edition
This ebook was scanned from an old paperback on the cold month of November, 2010.
The paperback had to be torn so as to get as clean a scan as possible. May he live forever in digital form.
“Memoria et Verbum”
Table of Contents
Title Page
THE WIZARDS AND THE WARRIORS
THE WIZARDS AND THE WARRIORS
THE WIZARDS AND THE WARRIORS
Table of Contents
Maps
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
About this edition