Hawkmoon (The Hawkmoon Chronicles)

by Unknown

  There was pain in the light. Scrabbling with bare hands, they dug holes to hide before sunrise.

  We will recess for lunch.

  When we resume I will chair a debate.

  References

  Allatius, T. 31.4070. . The Great Tragedy: Elvish History and the Consequences of Expulsion.

  Vol. 22 The Cenataur Chronicles. Centaur Press. al Moon.

  al Jidda.H. 31435. Thirty Years a Wanderer; In Search of Lost Sciences. Silverlode Press. Silverlode.

  Blenkinskip. R.31,580. The Silent Curse; An Analysis of the Consequences of the Existence of Vampires. Doctoral Dissertation submitted to the University of al Shatra. Al Shatra.

  Chulgetei, R. 31,425. Extracts from the Archives of the Northern Elves.. By Permission of the High Council. Translated from the Elvish by Blenkinskip and Chulgetei.

  Marmaduke, U.31,588 New Weapons for Ancient Perils Centaur Press. al Moon.

  Roy, T 31,5002 The Chewing Dead. Different States of Vampirism. Karak University Press. Karak

  al Jiddah. H. 31,5075 On the Possibility of Interdimensional Matrices.

  The Journal of Anrcane Studies. (4) 22. pp 213-247.

  A Study of the Science and Artefacts of the Ancients.

  Hattim Al Jiddah.

  Introduction to Supplement.

  My days are drawing down. I reflect on the achievements of my life and count them few enough. As a young man I made the lavish promises young men are apt to make. I dedicated my life to the pursuit of knowledge. I rejected security of tenure, preferring to spend my years questing for the secrets of a people who had constructed mysterious and wonderful devices. They had cured disease; they fed millions. They had flown in craft that exceeded the weight of a score of elephants. Look up at the second moon when next it rises. The lines you see were made to transport the ore which went to build the machines that were their undoing

  My success was based on the instincts of a forager. Where I exceeded my fellow academics was in an acceptance of discomfort and personal risk . They say that the Spirit protects fools. Certainly it would explain how I could survive in circumstances that would have killed others. I employed the best trackers, men who knew the the Outlands. I made certain they were well paid and could keep their mouth shut. None of those I hired had dealings with the Free Cites, the Duchies, the Kingdom or the Imperium. I married a nomad woman and had two daughters. I loved them more than I thought possible. My friend Temujin was a Dog Soldier. As a member of the tribe from which the Unifier had risen he had the privilege of riding unmolested across the territory of the Khan.

  In the spring of 15507 we rode north for six weeks following rumours of strange objects being dug out of a hill, The hill was part of land belonging to a tribesman who had ceased his nomadic existence to try his hand at farming. I am not disclosing the location. There is no point looking for it. It was the best time of year. The frightful cold of winter on the Steppes had given way to a cool, sunny spring. No mosquitoes yet and none of the baking heat that would come with summer. We left Shula and the children at the camp. The farmer had taken a liking to them. He took us to the hill and went home.

  After weeks of digging holes and poking about Temujin found a metal door Despite all our hammering it barely showed a scratch .. Temujin suggested that if the door was invulnerable we might have success in other places.

  Food was low and we needed certain tools. We packed up and headed back for the settlement. Before riding in Temujin stopped his pony on a rise. The first lesson of the Steppe is caution. Borrowing my hand telescope he examined the buildings. He looked for a time before passing it to me. Vultures were feeding in the yard ... Something lay, huddled by the door of the yurt. I saw the yellow band that my wife used to tie her hair. I kneed the pony to move but Temujin caught the reins. I screamed at him and he punched me. He swung off and up back to the treeline on a circle that would take us in close.

  The farm was deserted. Rubi was dead. Two, maybe three days; it was hard to know with the heat. The children were gone. The farmer and his wife were dead. We burnt the bodies. Temujin said nothing, but a single word.

  Wampyrhii.

  Next morning we left with all the spare food and weapons the farmers’ ponies could carry. We cut their trail a week later, riding two hours before dawn .All I wanted was to find the children before anything happened.

  It seems strange to think that anyone would track a group of vampires, particularly one man and a broken down academic. They never set an ambush. Who would follow vampires? Those who live on the Steppe are fearless. Their lives require it of them. There was a time when the vampires ranged over the Steppe with impunity. When the Unifier came his first act was to send an army to decimate the Wampyrhii. The vampires slaughtered thousands until even they could not kill enough and then it was their turn to die.

  We found them after sunset by the blaze from a farm they were attacking. My time is short and I have no inclination to describe the fighting. It was Temujin that did most of it.. We never found my children. I would rather believe they perished on the return journey than consider their fate as thralls or slaves. As to how and what I found when we returned to the site a week late, that will have to wait for the translation .

  The elves are the finest of people. I love and respect them but in a matter of this consequence there are no honest brokers. You must not carry this book with you. It must be protected. The knowledge is of such import that it would be better it were destroyed than allow it fall into the wrong hands

  Realm of Silverlode.

  31,427.

  To Mother Superior Falkenstone.

  Matriarch of the Order of the Golden Dawn.

  Witch’s Keep.

  From: Regina, Queen Regent of the Realm of Siverlode.

  To Kerris.

  Greetings.

  Our labours are all but concluded. In a short time Silverlode will be a source of refuge and comfort to our people. We acknowledge the support of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Under previous Matriarchs and under your direction a task that might have taken fifty years has been accomplished in half that time. Your support has made much of our work possible. We have rebuilt Silverlode, not as it was but mightier, richer, and with access to wealth that, until your engineers arrived, we had neither the skills nor means to exploit. We have two great friends whom we are pleased to acknowledge. Yours is one and the Free Company of Rangers are the other. All debts incurred by you in the reconstruction of Silverlode are being repaid in full. All investments made in Silverlode will be honoured with interest paid... Silverlode has , once again, become an economic power in the Land. We remember our friends and contrary to certain views expressed in our Councils, we do not forget our enemies. Now that our star has risen again we are receiving embassies from states that showed themselves laggard in friendship when such might have been welcomed and needed. When times were hard they impeded our efforts first to survive then to rebuild. We remember the White Winter of 31,322. after the Reiver had sacked and pillaged. Torn by invasion and grief, we remember the trains of food and medicine sent by the Order, protected by the Rangers. We remember.

  Research carried out by one of your sisters has confirmed what we had long suspected. Certain parties colluded in the invasion of Silverlode. They were paid in advance for stores, weapons and transport. Some of them were rewarded with a share of the plunder. The general feeling is that such approaches should be rejected. We ourselves consider this to be inadvisable. Difficult as it is we intend to draw these countries into bonds of friendship. In order to persuade the Council we would begin with those countries who profited least from our sufferings or who today show a more enlightened attitude to Silverlode. We desire to hear you thoughts on this.You might begin with those that were least antagonistic or whose support it would be profitable to enlist.

  Our second request is to deploy your intelligence services to assess the consequences of another Reiver war . It is the dark cloud that looms in our future.

  Our third reque
st is to assist in the resolution of a question that has lain at the root of previous invasions and may do so again in the future. The question is how does a small country protect itself from its enemies? Except for the Dasatii we have no true allies at our borders.The Parish folk are true friends and have long been close to us. They are a valiant but hardly a martial race. To the west the King of Dasaria is a friend but our assessment is that in the event of war they could not defend both themselves and Shaleen’s Gate. We have rebuilt the gate in the Blue Mountains. It is defended by our small force and a Dasarian Army. However if Dasaria is attacked that army will be withdrawn. They will have no choice and we will not hold the Gate unaided.

  Certain of our advisers have counselled that we enter into a Mutual Assistance Pact with the Orcs. In our view it t would be seen as an expression of weakness and hasten the very war we are seeking to avoid. It would be like feeding a jackal next to the stock pen. How do we become a military power when the only advantage we possess is wealth? Mercenaries would seem like an answer, however if history has taught any lessons it is the risks that attend the use of military hirelings

  How odd that our friends are not here, yet we are besieged by villains and malefactors. You must come with your husband to the Grand Opening. Enoch has long been a friend of our people The Commander of the Rangers will also attend and this may afford an opportunity for deliberation. We earnestly desire your presence, however, if you have previous commitments, we plan to visit the Royal City in the late Autumn .. We have been invited to stay with the King and that odious woman. We will be staying at the home of Elmund Dwarfdale.

  Regina.

  To Kerris..

  31,424

  Silverlode.

  Greetings.

  The Queen has consented to the inclusion of correspondence. The courier is about to leave so I will be as brief as possible. Hopefully I will not omit any matter of importance.

  The progress that has been made in the last year is quite remarkable. You will have had reports on the more cosmetic matters to do with the appearance of the city. I will confine myself with more crucial concerns. Using their engineers and our expertise the dwarves have been successful in opening what amounts to a new mine. This has been a closely guarded secret but one that will be revealed once the dwarves start bringing up quantities of gold , silver and precious stones... A geologist reading this would wonder at the presence of such a variety in the same location.. The truth is that they have accessed a Dragon’s hoard. The Dragon is not here and no one seems to know where he, or she, or they, have gone. The extent of the treasure is incomprehensible, even by dragon standards. If you were to store it at the Keep you would fill all the cellars and all the storerooms to the ceilings. The rest of it would fill the moat. I am writing with two purposes. The first is to ask you as Matriarch to speak to Regina and convince her of the problems she faces. The poor dear is so beset I am not sure how she will react .She has a High Council that, frankly, does more harm than good. If she were Queen in her own right she might be in a position to ignore their intransigence. But she is Regent until her son is of age, and bound to listen to the Council in the meantime. Dwarves are renowned for being stubborn but members on her Council take it beyond the point of obtuseness. Her new husband is the principle culprit and greatest mischief maker. She is quite infatuated with him.

  They seem to believe that wealth can answer all their problems. Simply lavish gold and the problem will go away. The latest scheme is to placate the Orcs by buying them off. The Queen will tell you more. If they release too much wealth too quickly the price of everything will go up. Inflation will wreck economies and this will make the likelihood of invasion even greater. The other problem is that as soon as word gets out that they are sitting on a Dragon’s hoard people will either start thinking, once again of invasion, or else they will insist on seeing it to look for pieces originally stolen by the Dragon. In my view the best measure for the queen to adopt would be to appoint a Royal Commission with scholars and researchers from across the Land who would inspect the hoard , identify the pieces and return them to their proper owners. This would have three advantages:

  It would make friends,

  2. It would take years to accomplish.

  3. Most of it would remain their property.

  . As well as a reputation for being stubborn they are also renowned for cupidity. I was actually punched when I made the suggestion. They are in the extraordinary position of being terribly vulnerable and either unwilling to admit their vulnerability or unable to do anything about it. Hence my letter to you. I hope you can post both of us somewhere else before the coming storm.

  Regards.

  Maria.

  Matriarch.

  The courier is waiting . I will summarize my concerns quickly. I have done this for a number of years, long enough to know that it is time to share my thinking with my superiors. At worst I can be dismissed as a worrier. First I believe there is a move coming to either replace the Queen Regent or bring forward the crowning of the young king. While he is intelligent I do not consider him mature enough at this point. My conclusion is that this is a bid by the High Council to seize control of the Kingdom. The centre of this is her second husband. With Regina out of the way they would have unrestrained access to and control of the new king. The enemies of Silverlode would interpret this, correctly in my view, as an ideal moment for invasion.

  I am not usually the first to recommend violence, especially at the court of a friend but I don’t think there is an alternative. I am recommending the assassination of the leader of the High Council and her husband. How that is to be accomplished is for you to decide.

  Regards.

  Ping.

  Matriarch Kerris.

  Witch’s Keep. 31,427

  .

  My Dear Kerris.

  Your esteemed husband will, deliver this to your hands. My family will attend the Conclave later in the year. At that time we can meet to discuss matters of interest. I am sure you will have a contribution to make on this topic. However I thought I might take the opportunity of your husband’s visit with us to speak of a certain problem.

  The first concerns the Kingdom of Silverlode. As you known there has been enmity between Dwarf and Elf. I do not wish to venture into the wherefores of the matter. Mistakes have been made on both sides. We are aware that the recovery in the fortunes of the Dwarves has led to jealousy in certain states and one in particular is laying plans for invasion. We have good intelligence on the matter and would share this with Silverlode. However, given, the level of mistrust that persists between our people, the chances of it been accepted are remote. If the dwarves’ were aware of its true provenance they would regard it as yet another example of Elvish trickery. If you are agreeable we can pass this intelligence to you for transmission to Silverlode.

  You will want to confirm this through your own services. I can assure you of its accuracy.

  We are gravely concerned at the spread of Vampirism throughout the Land.

  Riva Ward has asked to meet with the Matriarch. She can travel to the Keep or see Kerris in the Royal City; whichever is suitable..

  Aladan.

  Hawkmoon. Book 2. The Terror That Flies By Night.

  Raiders.

  On the Mountain, on the Plain.

  In the Muskeg, in the Rain

  The Orc of Doom will wait for you,

  Your day is done, your time is due.

  Chorus.

  We’ll drink your blood,

  We’ll break your bone.

  We’ll eat your Flesh.

  We’ll make you groan.

  The beasts of Hell, will shake with fear

  When the Uruk Host are marching near.

  No Vampire Lord, nor Hellborn slut

  No warty Troll, nor Goblin mutt

  Will stand before the fighting host

  The awesome foe the fear the most.

  Chorus.

  We’ll drink your blood,

  We’
ll break your bone.

  We’ll eat your Flesh.

  We’ll make you groan.

  It was a bad song. Among a race that had no poets it was a work of genius. Gash claimed he wrote it .Later he changed that to co-author.. The First Marshal was so pleased he made it the official marching song of the Army. The author was rewarded with a farm, and five slaves He had the sense to retire from Gash’s troop.

  The song brought Gash to the notice of the bosses. They had a special job for him. Do it right and he would be set for life. At the time it looked like another example of the famous Gash luck. It began to smell when they told him he would have the company of a wizard. If he had all his fingers he wouldn’t need them to count the number of times a wizard came on a raid. Bad as they were before the bloodsuckers started coming round, they were worse now… They were a shifty lot and no mistake.

  Gash objected. He was told to follow orders. .The raiders would carry his gear. Him too if he got tired, which he would. They didn’t stir far from the bosses, running around making trouble, sticking their noses in where they didn’t belong. Like all his kind the wizard was soft Those that fell behind were killed. Sometimes if they were officers or they had coin they were carried. No one fell behind much.

  The secret to raiding was moving fast, hit hard and be gone before they knew what happened. Old Gash was no genius but he knew when someone was trying to blow smoke up his bum Didn’t need a crystal ball to see a fatal accident in the wizard’s future. The troop was missing two, one from Gangrene, the other hanged for thieving. He had been offered replacements but they would have been spies, so he refused. Besides the crew he had would do it or no one would. They were a good enough bunch…