‘What in the blazes!’ Gabe gaped at the Lycan in awe.
Kaira curled a hair casually behind her ear, as though nothing awry had just happened. ‘That,’ she said, ‘was a mercy.’
For once, Gabe held his tongue. No one else seemed willing to put their curiosity to words.
‘What are we doing about… him?’ Vaera spoke carefully, after Samir had handed Nathaniel his saddle bag. Nathaniel looked around, as it was none too clear who she was referring to. But she was looking out of the corner of her eyes at Valen.
‘We’re taking him with us, aren’t we?’ Gabe threw up his hands as if it were the obvious answer. ‘He’s a blazing vampire! We could take the whole Regal Armada on, with Valen leading the charge!’
The disgust on Valen’s face suggested he didn’t find the idea in the least bit as exciting as Gabe did.
‘We’re not going to war with my people,’ Nathaniel cut in firmly. ‘Thorne wants us to negotiate for peace. That’s what we’re going for.’
Peace. Would the Elders even listen to him? The words of a boy who everyone thought had murdered the Emperor. And that’s assuming I even get that far, Nathaniel thought bitterly.
It was still a long way to the palace, with many an opportunity for a stray arrow or a blade from the shadows to silence his voice.
‘I cannot go with you,’ Valen shook his head vigorously, like the very idea of travelling with others repulsed him. ‘I can already…’ The vampire’s black eyes had latched onto Nathaniel. There was hunger there.
Nathaniel touched his neck, his fingers coming back damp with the blood from Mortellia’s blade.
‘Valen…’ the Hunter said warningly.
‘I have been among you for too long,’ Valen grimaced, ‘consider my debt repaid, Hunter.’
‘Let it be so,’ Zaine accepted the vampire’s words with a nod.
Gabe folded his thick arms in disappointment. Samir crooked his neck staring at the vampire in curiosity. The vampire performed a half bow, his words sounding like they belonged to an older man. ‘Luck be with your endeavours.’
In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
‘Well that was a stupid idea,’ Gabe said.
‘Where do we go now?’ Brey asked.
‘Tal’Shaelan, I presume,’ Vaera suggested.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
Kaira turned and jumped at finding the old man sitting on the carriage step behind her.
‘Where in the blazes did you come from?’ Gabe said.
‘I’m the girl’s father,’ the old man said, nodding at the Stewardess’s unconscious form.
Nathaniel heard a snapping noise and turned to find Zaine with his hand planted on his pommel, staring at the old man like a hawk.
‘Ahhhh Hunter,’ the old man gave Zaine a sour look. ‘I see the years have treated you well.’
‘Better than you I see, Baron,’ Zaine replied. ‘How did you manage to convince your master to spare you?’
The old man held up a hand and wiggled the stumps of his ring and middle fingers. ‘I didn’t. The men he appointed to kill me were imbeciles.’
‘A pity,’ Zaine said. Nathaniel heard the Hunter’s knuckles crack against the sword grip.
‘Perhaps you’d care to finish the job?’ the Baron splayed out his arms, as if in an offer of embrace.
‘You’re not worth the time it would take to dry the blood off my sword.’
‘Nonetheless, you should take my advice, Hunter… if you truly care about peace between the Lycans and Regals, that is.’
Nathaniel jumped in before Zaine had time to change his mind. ‘Let’s just hear what he has to say,’ Nathaniel said, nodding at Zaine, who was looking unusually livid.
‘My daughter has already sent word to his eminence, the Emperor of Obsidia,’ the Baron said quickly. Nathaniel took it that he wasn’t the only one suddenly wary of the Hunter. ‘If the Szar seeks to retrieve the Kinslayer,’ he inclined his head at Nathaniel, ‘you’ll find a rather unpleasant surprise waiting for you in Tal’Shaelan.’
‘Tal’Shaelan is a free city, the Szar wouldn’t dare occupy it,’ Kaira said.
‘He doesn’t need to, to control who goes in and out.’
‘Tal’Shaelan is the only way through to Obsidia,’ Samir noted quietly. ‘How are we supposed to get there otherwise?’
The Baron shrugged. ‘Take the gamble if you wish, I personally wouldn’t.’
‘We don’t have to,’ Nathaniel suddenly realised.
‘What are you talking about, ginge?’ Gabe frowned.
‘I know a way around… I think.’
‘Then I leave it in your hands,’ the Baron said. The old man pushed himself to his feet with a groan and began to limp towards the dark towers of Morne.
‘What about your daughter?’ Brey called after him. ‘You’re just going to leave her here, like this?’
‘Mortellia will come to soon enough,’ the Baron waved a hand dismissively without turning around. ‘And I have no desire to go back to a cell when she does.’
‘Let’s get going,’ Nathaniel said. ‘We’ve a way to go, without horses.’
Chapter 33
‘You sure you know where you’re going, Regal?’ Gabe grumbled.
Taking Nathaniel’s advice, they had strayed from the well-beaten path beyond Morne. Heading west-ways, into an open plain of rolling hills and grassland.
‘I’ll find it,’ Nathaniel replied defiantly, for what seemed like the hundredth time.
‘Uh-huh,’ Gabe said, not sounding overly convinced. ‘You said that an hour ago.’
‘I know where I’m bloody going,’ Nathaniel muttered crossly to himself.
As time passed, however, their party grew evermore restless, which wasn’t aided by the seemingly unending and repetitive green landscape. Even Nathaniel began to question himself.
‘Struggling to remember the way?’
Nathaniel gave a start at Zaine’s sudden appearance by his side.
How are you so damned quiet all the time, Hunter?
‘No, I–I remember. I’m sure of it! I have to,’ Nathaniel replied hesitantly.
Athrana’s grace. I’m not even sure myself anymore.
Still, it was not like they had any real alternative other than to blindly follow him through the green tundra. It would be impossible to forge a direct path to Obsidia without bloodshed.
Nathaniel eyed the Hunter’s sword from the corner of his eye.
Zaine would protect them if it came to it… he thought. But what of the others? Gabe would probably dive headfirst into the fray for the fun of it, before the first flash of steel. The other Lycans… he supposed they might too. None of them owed him their lives though, and Nathaniel would be reluctant to put them in danger, even if they offered. He looked back at Vaera, who was grimacing at some lewd story or other that Brey was telling her.
What of you?
Vaera had little reason to die for their cause either. He still wasn’t quite sure why she hadn’t already made a beeline for Tal’Shaelan, to warn the Regals of his coming.
And what of him? He had never drawn a sword to kill another, let alone one of his kind.
Then I really would be a Kinslayer.
Nathaniel swallowed hard.
I’m no Kinslayer. I’m no Kinslayer. I’m no Kinslayer.
‘Is that… a grave?’
Brey was squinting at something off in the distance. A lump of square rock jutting out from one of the hills beyond them. It oddly reminded him of some of the older patrons in the The Prancer, back in Greymound. Like a lower jaw bereft of all but one lonesome, chipped tooth.
‘That’s it!’ Nathaniel shouted, almost leaping in the air.
The ‘gravestone’ bore no name, but what appeared to be a set of directions.
‘Follow the tears of Thün Moine to the eye of stone,’ Samir read aloud.
‘There, if your heart be firm, shall you return to the heart of stone.’
; ‘“The tears of Thün Moine?”’ Gabe’s brow wrinkled. ‘Is that a stream or something?’
‘Not literal tears, you stone-head,’ Kaira rolled her eyes.
Brey coughed loudly into her fist.
‘Would this, by any chance, be what we’re looking for?’ she called from below the hill.
The Lycan was parting the grass around a stone tablet, about half the size of one of Samir’s heavy, leather-bound books, hiding underneath the grass. ‘Don’t tell me – I know – I’m great,’ Brey gave one of her crooked smiles.
The group had to fan out, wide at first, to find the next few tablets, before they could begin to work out the expected path. By the seventh tablet, their journey began to straighten out somewhat. The tablets took their party away from the hills and towards flatter ground, where great square-shaped trees dotted the landscape, across the sea of green.
After an hour, the Thün’s tears ran abruptly dry. Retracing their steps did little to solve this dilemma but Nathaniel refused to accept that this was where the trail ended.
‘Let’s go back again,’ Nathaniel insisted, waving away the Lycans’ protests.
‘We’ve been back to the last tablet three blazing times already,’ Gabe groaned. ‘Face it, ginge, this is it.’
The Baron’s warning about Tal’Shaelan loomed ominous overhead for Nathaniel. Like a black cloud on the point of bursting, refusing to go away.
‘We must have missed it,’ Nathaniel said hotly. ‘Let’s look around.’
‘Nathaniel, there’s nothing else here,’ Brey said gently.
‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him,’ Gabe muttered.
Nathaniel bit back a retort so hard he tasted blood. He turned to the Hunter for help, but the man held his silence, silver eyes regarding him neutrally.
Well thanks a bunch, Zaine, Nathaniel thought bitterly.
Gabe shook his head. ‘We’re wasting time. We should have just gone to Tal’Shaelan and be done with it.’
‘And risk a battle? Did you not hear what that man said?’ Kaira challenged him.
‘At least we know what we’re facing and what lies on the other side!’ Gabe barked. ‘Instead we’re here on a child’s treasure hunt!’
‘What would you have me do?’ Nathaniel demanded.
The Lycan drew himself up. He may have been thicker-set than Nathaniel but he was still smaller.
‘I would take us straight to Tal’Shaelan and be done with the delays,’ Gabe said. ‘Or are you scared of having to fight?’
That’s it.
Nathaniel launched himself at the Lycan who uttered a startled cry, as he was dragged to the ground. The two of them barrelled across the ground growling at each other. Nathaniel heard a loud crunch, as if a hundred or so twigs had snapped underneath them, Brey shrieked, and then they were both falling into blackness.
*
The ground was softer than Nathaniel expected, though the landing no less painful for either of them. Loose bark and the thin canopy of grass that had failed to hold them was scattered across the damp pit floor. Looking over Gabe, Nathaniel thought he could make out a torch light in the distance and a… tunnel?
Groaning and clutching their backs, the two of them rose slowly. Gabe looked down at his feet when Nathaniel caught his eye. Was the Lycan blushing?
‘I’m not sorry,’ he grumbled.
‘Neither am I,’ Nathaniel replied, unable to restrain the grin that crept over his face. Soon the two of them were doubled over back in the dirt, clutching their stomachs as they howled with laughter.
‘Nathaniel! Gabe! Are you two alright?’ Zaine’s voice boomed toward them.
‘We’re fine!’ Nathaniel yelled back, his eyes scouring the edge of the pit and quickly finding what they were looking for. ‘Climb down – here – there are vines. I think we’ve found the entrance!’
The Hunter was the first to slide down to join them. He clapped them both on the shoulder, ‘good work.’ Nathaniel thought he saw the corner of Zaine’s mouth curl as he went past.
The rest followed soon after. Samir tightly clutching his bag of books to his chest like a new-born babe, Brey giggling with Kaira, and finally Vaera, a look of disgust plain to see on the Regal’s face.
What lay beyond the dimly lit tunnel was nothing short of strange. Hundreds of rails darted off in different directions and angles, some meeting in the middle, like some sort of mad spider’s web.
‘Whoa!’ Samir exclaimed, almost tripping over himself as he backed onto Gabe’s toes, the Lycan uttering dark oaths whilst hopping on one foot.
The stone floor quickly fell into nothing, seemingly hovering, unsupported, over a great cavernous pit, just a few feet away from where Samir had stood. Most of the rails spun down into this great darkness below, although it was impossible to tell how far down they went, as they faded into black.
‘How do we use this?’ Gabe pointed at the run of rail close to the edge of the stone platform they stood upon.
‘Ummm…’
Before Nathaniel could think of an answer, a distant clinking and rattling sound pierced the dull quiet.
Ratakum! Ratakum! Ratakum!
The rail closest to them tremored and shook more violently, as the source of the noise came closer.
RATAKUM! RATAKUM! RATAKUM!
Out of a dark corner, an empty mine-cart emerged. At least, it had seemed empty at first. However, as the cart neared, a helmeted head could be seen poking out over the top. The cart sped along the rails, with such speed that Nathaniel felt his stomach lurch just watching it skittle through corners. Yet somehow, its driver managed to keep the wheels from slipping away.
‘HO THERE!’ the driver bellowed at them, his deep gravelly voice managing to carry over the screeches of the cart, as it pulled to a stop beside them.
The Dwarf peered at them through opaque goggles, which seemed far too dusty to allow safe navigation of the rails. His hair, which was cut short at the sides, still stretched halfway down his back. Streaks of salt and pepper edged the chestnut locks, which were tied into plaits from the back of his neck down.
Now Nathaniel came to think of it, the Dwarf looked awfully familiar…
‘I don’t believe it… that’s a blazing Dwarf!’ Gabe pointed at the driver.
‘Aye! And that’s Master blazin’ Dwarf to you, lad!’ the Dwarf’s long, drooping, brown moustache blew about as he spoke. ‘Now, what in the bleedin’ bedrock are you doing here?’
‘Pegs?’ Nathaniel said.
The Dwarf lowered the goggles carefully atop his barrel of a chest and blinked at Nathaniel with green gemstone eyes.
‘By the stones of my father,’ the Dwarf murmured, the mine-cart tilting dangerously towards the chasm below, as he leaned over its side. ‘Nathaniel lad, is that you?’
‘Pegs?’ Nathaniel heard Samir whisper behind him, ‘why is he called Pegs?’
‘By the stone, lad! It is you!’
The side of the cart burst open onto the edge of the plateau, which the Dwarf then used to clamber over towards them. His wooden peg-leg made a dull clank, as it struck the cart door and then thudded against the stone floor. The Dwarf may have only reached the Regal’s chest in height, but he snatched Nathaniel up in the air, as easily as one would a handful of pebbles.
‘Why, last I saw that wee ginger head of yours, you had it so far down a barrel I thought you drowned!’ the Dwarf chortled.
Nathaniel blushed, trying his best to ignore Brey’s giggles behind him.
As if it’s not bad enough already that half the Regal Empire knows…
‘I was told Dwarves had great beards?’ Samir spoke behind them, sounding somewhat disappointed at Pegs’ lack thereof.
‘A BEARD!’ the Dwarf boomed, dropping Nathaniel roughly. ‘Great Ozin’s hammer, lad! How unhygienic would that be!’ The Dwarf slapped his hand against his soot covered cheeks, as if completely unaware that he was covered from head to toe in dust and dirt.
‘I see…’ Samir r
eplied weakly, adding with a whisper to Zaine, ‘does the Dwarf joke?’
The Hunter only smiled wryly in reply.
‘A HUNTER AS WELL!’ the Dwarf splayed out his arms in welcome, ‘what a rare occasion indeed!’
Thud Thud Thud
Pegs slapped his thickset hands over one of Zaine’s. ‘Welcome! Welcome!’ the Dwarf grinned, before his enthusiasm inexplicably disappeared momentarily, as if suddenly afflicted with an unpleasant memory.
The Dwarf leant in and lowered his voice to a whisper, ‘you haven’t come fore the – ahem! – you know… the ‘thing’ have you?’
‘Thing?’ Zaine’s silver eyes narrowed at the question.
‘BAH!’ the Dwarf relinquished his hold of the Hunter, gave his chest a smart rap and began to limp back to the mine-cart. ‘I forget myself! Come! Come!’ the Dwarf spoke over his shoulder, before hopping onto the little seat at the front.
Nathaniel looked concernedly between Zaine and Pegs, but both seemed to be purposefully avoiding his eyes. Things associated with Hunters rarely meant good news for all involved.
‘Well come on! You must be hungry!’ Pegs waved his arms at them impatiently.
‘Did he say food?’ Gabe’s ears perked up.
‘I believe he did,’ Brey grinned, wolfishly.
‘I would welcome that,’ Samir nodded.
‘I am not getting on that!’ Vaera shook her head firmly, eyeing the mine-cart as if it were liable to spontaneously explode.
‘Suit yourself, Regal,’ Gabe said, as he and Brey almost knocked Nathaniel off his feet, as the Lycans launched themselves towards the Dwarf’s cart. ‘It’s a long climb down though.’
Nathaniel and Samir followed suit, squeezing themselves into the back behind the two other Lycans. At the front of the cart, where the Dwarf sat, a number of levers jutted out at various angles from a dashboard littered with dials and knobs.
‘Last chance, Regal!’ Pegs called to Vaera.
With a glance behind her, Vaera scowled and leapt aboard, wedging herself in next to Nathaniel.
The Dwarf pulled a few of the levers, pressed a few buttons, and clicked several switches. After a pause, he gave the cart a sharp rap with his fist and it sprung into life
Nathaniel Grey and the Obsidian Crown Page 21