by Kirby Crow
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Torquere Press
www.torquerepress.com
Copyright ©2006 by Kirby Crow
First published in www.torquerepress.com, 2006
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NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.
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PREFACE
This is the Second Book of SCARLET AND THE WHITE WOLF.
Book One, The Pedlar and the Bandit King, told the story of Scarlet of Lysia, a young and honorable Hilurin pedlar, who by chance met a Kasiri bandit on a toll road through the mountains. The Kasiri was Liall the Wolf, a feared and famous giant of a man from the far northern lands of Rshan na Ostre, and a famous atya, or chieftain, among the tribal Kasiri kraits.
Their first meeting was less than polite. Liall demanded a kiss in toll for Scarlet's crossing of the bandit road. Scarlet angrily refused and insulted the atya, and Liall sent Scarlet packing back to his village.
In Lysia, a stranger named Cadan—an Aralyrin soldier in the Flower Prince's Army—began asking questions about the Kasiri blocking the mountain road. Cadan seemed to focus much of his attention on Scarlet, and questioned the young man repeatedly about Liall. The Aralyrin and Hilurin peoples, though sharing a common ancestry, had been waging a sporadic, unofficial war against each other for years, and did not trust each other. Also, the Hilurin have long guarded the secret of The Gift: an ancestral Hilurin ability to use magic. To suddenly have an Aralyrin taking up residence in a Hilurin village and watching the doings of bandits roused Scarlet's suspicions. Scarlet refused to speak to Cadan any further, and angrily ordered the soldier to leave him alone.
For the next several days, as Cadan watched closely, an inventive battle of wills ensued between Scarlet and Liall. Scarlet tried to sneak by the road in the dead of night, then hidden inside a cart of crockery, and finally dressed in his mother's clothing with his black hair powdered to crone-gray. Liall was fooled by none of it, but highly amused, until Scarlet took the game further and accused Liall of being a brigand and probable murderer.
Enraged, Liall cut the dress from Scarlet and humiliated him in front of the Kasiri. Peysho—Liall's Morturii enforcer—put a stop to it before it went too far, but the damage was done. Scarlet fled down the mountain road, and a regretful Liall followed him.
While escaping the Kasiri camp, Scarlet ran straight into Cadan, who was lying in wait for the pedlar. Cadan attacked Scarlet, meaning to leave his dead body for the village to find and lay the blame on the bandits, but Liall arrived in time to save Scarlet, wounding Cadan and driving him off.
Liall returned Scarlet to his people to recover, and explained to Scarlet that Cadan was a former Kasiri in Liall's krait. Cadan had proved to be more of a brutal outlaw than a Kasiri, and Liall had marked and banished Cadan from his krait three years earlier. Cadan's attack on Scarlet was motivated purely by revenge against Liall.
Deeply ashamed that his actions had put Scarlet in such danger, Liall refused to see Scarlet when he recovered his health and chanced up the mountain road, but granted the traveling pedlar full and free passage through any road that the Longspur krait controlled, forever.
Two months passed. A messenger arrived for Liall from his northern homeland of Rshan na Ostre, summoning the northman on a mysterious quest to return to his family. Scarlet traveled to Ankar, a Morturii city, to work in the souk. There, he made plans to move away from Lysia and join a trade in Ankar, but decided to make one more trip to his village to see his parents and inform them of his decision.
Approaching Lysia, Scarlet could see tall columns of smoke on the horizon. He raced into the village, only to find everyone dead, the homes burning, and the village full of Kasiri. Scarlet assumed that the Kasiri had attacked the village, and drew a knife to attack Liall. Liall protested that that the attack was an Aralyrin raid, bent on murdering the Hilurin, and refused to fight Scarlet. Liall's men disarmed the grieving pedlar, and Liall gently informed Scarlet that his sister, Annaya, survived the raid. She was safe in the Kasiri camp.
Two days passed while Annaya recovered in the krait, tended by her brother, until another survivor straggled into camp: Shansi, the blacksmith's apprentice and Annaya's betrothed. Shansi confirmed that it was the Aralyrin who destroyed Lysia. Liall had his men sifted the ashes of Scarlet's home to find the bones of Scarlet's parents, and Liall helped Scarlet bury them in a peaceful field.
With the seasons turning and Lysia destroyed, the krait prepared to break camp and move back to their base in Chrj. Liall tried to find a way to be alone with Scarlet so that he could investigate Scarlet's willingness to stay with the krait, but Scarlet resisted all of Liall's invitations and the offer was never made. Liall prepared to return to Rshan alone, turning over the leadership of the krait to Peysho, and said goodbye to Scarlet on the mountain road where they first met. Scarlet gave Liall two copper coins—a fair toll for a pedlar crossing a bandit road—and departed with Shansi and Annaya.
A week later, Shansi, Annaya, and Scarlet were settled in Nantua with Shansi's parents. Shansi planned to be a blacksmith there and marry Annaya, and Scarlet was torn between his desire to stay with what was left of his family or to take to the road again as a pedlar. Annaya chided her brother for being a coward and not going after what he really wanted—which was Liall—but Scarlet decided to go with his original plan and return to Ankar.
On the road to Ankar, Scarlet was attacked by a band of Aralyrin soldiers under the command of Cadan. Cadan escaped from Liall with only a broken leg, and was searching the roads for him. A bounty had been placed on Liall's head in every port and garrison in Byzantur by a mysterious Northman, and Cadan believed Scarlet knew where Liall was. Cadan and his men prepared to torture the information out of Scarlet, but Scarlet called on his Gift to escape them, killing Cadan. Scarlet immediately set out for Volkovoi to warn Liall, and also to thwart the vengeance of Cadan's soldiers. In escaping with his life, Scarlet had made also himself a wanted man in Byzantur.
In the meantime, Liall had crossed the Channel and reached the rough harbor port of Volkovoi. There he awaited the arrival of a Rshani ship which would make the long and hazardous crossing through frozen seas, back to Rshan. While walking the docks one rainy night, Liall was attacked and beaten by a pair of club-wielding bravos (hired guards), but saved by the arrival of Scarlet. Two long-knives against two wooden clubs, and the bravos were defeated.
Scarlet helped Liall back to his inn. There, he told Liall about the attack by Cadan and that there was a bounty on Liall's head, withholding the facts of Cadan's death and his own fugitive state. Scarlet asked to accompany Liall to Rshan, but Liall sadly refused, fearing the pedlar would not survive such a long, harsh journey. Too, the Rshani do not tolerate foreigners, and Liall knew that his countrymen would be hostile to Scarlet.
A Rshani brigantine, the Ostre Sul, arrived with the dawn, and Liall met with the ship's captain, Qixa, to book passage. When it came time for the ship to depart, the harbor was guarded by many more bravos on the lookout for Liall. Scarlet distracted the bravos while Liall boarded the ship, and the ship began to leave. At the last moment, Scarlet made a daring leap from the docks with the bravos in close pursuit, dropping to the deck of the Ostre Sul.
The Rshani mariners did not want Scarlet on the ship and were prepared to throw him overboard, but Liall forestalled any
violence by promising to put Scarlet ashore to the north, in Ankar. Being no less stubborn than any Hilurin, Scarlet had his own plans about the voyage.
Thus, two very unlikely companions found themselves on the deck of a Rshani ship, enemies behind them, a dangerous voyage ahead, and surely bound for danger. Whatever is to come, Scarlet is determined that he and Liall will face it together.
1.
An Ill Fate
The heavy sky was the color of ash, and a light mist seeped from the clouds, covering the flat, soaked landscape in another layer of moisture to add to its endless tides, mildew, sewage, and the constant, pelting rain that deviled the decaying port city of Volkovoi from the month of Trees until the beginning of Wilding. The city was made of many haphazard rows of uneven, ramshackle buildings the color of rotting straw, all jutting up at odd angles, frames sagging against each other for reluctant support. Their crumbling facades bravely faced the waterline, patiently waiting for the inevitable wind or storm that would erase their mark from the scenery. On the pier, a tight knot of leather-armored bravos shook their fists and cursed the departing ship. The crew of the Rshani brigantine ignored the disturbance on land to return to their duties, guiding the great ship northward and home.
Scarlet's skin still tingled with triumph from his near escape from the port of Volkovoi, and he could taste the salt of the air on his tongue. He brushed the grime from his long red pedlar's coat and tried not to appear too smug. He'd gotten away! He was going with Liall! The youth—a slight Hilurin of about eighteen with the characteristic black hair, black eyes, and very fair skin of the Old Tribes—looked up at Liall and affected a casual air.
"I can see this is going to be a long journey. Now, how far is it?” he asked his companion, a towering Northman with hair like snow and icy blue eyes.
Liall frowned. His dark, angular face was the color of amber and he had sharp cheekbones that gave him a forbidding aspect. “You will be put ashore to the north above Morturii, where you should be safe from the Byzan army. You know enough of the language and customs to get by."
Scarlet shrugged. Liall did not sound very convincing, and in any case, it was useless to argue right now. The mariners were watching them with hostility and he had no wish to create a scene that might draw more of their attention. He gave Liall a smile. “You didn't answer me."
"Rshan na Ostre is a four-month journey by sea."
Scarlet thumped Liall hard on the arm. “That's not even a real place!"
Liall laughed, perhaps in sheer surprise. It was hard to tell with Liall. “What do you mean, not real?"
"It's a fairytale. Scaja used to tell me about it when I was no bigger than that barrel there. The Land of Demons, where the Shining Ones live,” Scarlet scoffed. “Rshan! Do you take me for a fool?"
Liall was holding his aching arm and chuckling, and Scarlet felt a twinge of guilt for hitting him. The bravos had beaten Liall thoroughly in the Volkovoi alleyway where Scarlet had found him. Scarlet did not know why Liall had been attacked, but he was sure it had something to do with Liall's life before he became an atya of Kasiri bandits.
"I assure you, it is no fairy tale. And it is not called the Land of Demons, but the Land of Darkness, or Night. The words are the same in Sinha, you see. And the commoners in Byzantur just call it Norl Udur, the North Kingdom."
"The North Kingdom is not Rshan,” Scarlet said, his patience slipping. He spoke very clearly, as if to the village want-wit. “It couldn't be."
"And just why not? Because you do not believe in Rshan, it cannot exist? That's very arrogant, little Byzan. Even for you."
Scarlet scowled. “Next you'll be telling me you're a Shining One.” He waved his hand dismissively, highly annoyed. “Forget it, you great ox. If you don't want to tell me the truth, just shut up."
Liall laughed harder as the thin rain gathered strength and became a downpour. And then, to Scarlet's everlasting surprise, Liall seized him, drew him into those big arms, and kissed him passionately. Scarlet went rigid in shock, tense at the sudden feel of strong arms wrapped around him and—oh, Deva!—Liall's mouth on his. Then all his muscles seemed to melt and he moaned and before he quite knew what he was doing, he was kissing Liall back. He sank against Liall's body as the damp wind pulled at their hair and clothes.
Liall broke the kiss suddenly, leaving Scarlet a little dizzy.
"I will always tell you the truth,” Liall whispered, his face buried in Scarlet's jet-black hair.
Scarlet felt the tremor in Liall's body and marveled. Am I doing this to him? Couldn't be. His mind buzzed with new questions. It was all too much: the near-fatal episode with Cadan and his soldiers on the road; the narrow escape from the bravos; his dizzying leap from the docks to land on the deck of the Rshani brigantine after Liall had stoutly refused to let him aboard. Now, Liall was hugging him like a lost love. It made his head spin.
Liall's arms tightened hard for a moment. "Sunya," he added, very low.
"Sunya,” Scarlet repeated. “What does that mean?"
Liall cleared his throat and let him go, and Scarlet watched in puzzled amazement as the tall Northman stared out over the waves. Liall seemed to be struggling for control, but over what, Scarlet did not know.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I...” Liall cast a nervous look over his shoulder at the Rshani crew that hovered just out of earshot, casting dark looks at their way. He took Scarlet's arm. “It is the name for the polestar in Rshan, a light to steer by. Come.” Liall straightened and seemed to shake off his momentary lapse. “Let us get you out of sight."
Scarlet marked again the intense dislike of the crew as they made their way down the ship, the way they glared at him as if he were a rat on deck. He need not fear mere robbery from them, he surmised, and resolved to stay near to Liall in case one of them decided to pitch him overboard when Liall was not looking.
The crew seemed to sincerely loathe foreigners, which was a pity because he was curious as a cat about them: such large men, so strange-looking, such pale hair and bronzed skin, and such a mighty vessel. Where could they have come from? It had to be Norl Udur, whatever Liall claimed. He wondered where their home port was and where they sailed on their journey, and fought down a surge of frustration at not being able to ask.
Even if you dared ask, he thought, you don't speak their language. He resolved to badger Liall to teach him some on the voyage, which was not going to end immediately north of Morturii.
The Ostre Sul's unsmiling quartermaster met them amidships and led them to a small cabin attached beneath the quarterdeck and the captain's quarters. Like most of the sailors—mariners, Liall called them—the quartermaster wore long leather breeches, oiled to keep water out, and a loose, mid sleeved woolen shirt that seemed to wrap around his waist several times. Scarlet was surprised to see that they wore boots and did not go barefoot as did most sailors he had seen, but winter was coming and he could understand them not wanting cold toes. Their boots were odd: soft-soled like slippers and reaching up over their knees, where they were then turned down like the brim of a hat. Most of the mariners had bronzed skin and long, pale hair that they wore bound tight in a single braid down their backs, but a few had shorter hair like Liall, and one young mariner wore his hair flowing loose. Scarlet thought the style handsome but impractical for a life at sea, and thought the mariner vain. He was also disturbed that the young mariner appeared to slide into hating him so easily. All he had done was leap from the distance from the harbor to the deck of the brigantine and stand at Liall's side, and that seemingly was enough to make the unknown young mariner despise him.
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They reached a paneled door below the quarterdeck on the port side and the quartermaster bowed to Liall before leaving them. The cabin was small, but nevertheless both cleaner and bigger than the room they had just vacated above the taberna in Volkovoi. The raw pine paneling of the walls was scrubbed clean, and there was a wide bunk (free of lice, Scarlet checked), and a large cedar ches
t with a generous supply of padded quilts and thick woolen blankets. Small brass candle lamps hung from the ceiling and one wall. A single porthole, about the size of a plate, opened on the port side. The glass was not uneven and wavy like Byzan glass would have been, but smooth to the touch and clear. There was also a small charcoal brazier attached to an iron pedestal sunk deeply into the wooden planks of the floor. For heat, Scarlet supposed. He fiddled with it a moment and discovered the slitted breathers could be closed and locked to be fireproof, which he supposed might be a necessity in rough water. In truth, Scarlet was simply avoiding looking at Liall. Liall would want to know how Cadan died, and Scarlet's role in it. That was something the pedlar dreaded talking about.
Predictably, Liall started in right away. He dropped his traveling packs on the floor and sank down on the bunk. “So you killed Cadan. Not intentional, you say. How did that occur?"
Scarlet took a deep breath and related the story: saying farewell to Shansi and Annaya in Nantua, how he was making for Ankar on his own when Cadan and his soldiers caught him on the Common Road to Patra, and how Cadan had revealed that a bounty had been placed on Liall's head,
"They were probably ordered to watch the roads for you. At any rate, I was alone and his men were no better or more honorable than he was, I could see that, and...” Scarlet trailed off, not wanting to say what had happened next.
"Tell me,” Liall pressed.
Liall sat and listened, his mouth flattened into a grim line, as Scarlet related the details of what followed. Scarlet told Liall about the beating, and how he had been terrified of death, and then the instant of fate that he never expected, when Deva herself spoke to him and helped him escape. Why he should have been worth of the notice of the goddess still baffled Scarlet. Who was he but a common pedlar?
"There was a moment when they were careless,” Scarlet said, knowing he could not explain how he had called out to Deva or in what manner the goddess had answered him. “I got my hands on my dagger—the dagger you gave me, Liall—and pushed it into Cadan's throat. Then I ran."