by Ian Whates
Tom was momentarily distracted by Dewar's ongoing efforts to keep Beauty quiet. The man lavished more affection on that animal than Tom could imagine him ever sparing for a fellow human. As the ferry got under way, the former nick found himself staring at the water dashing beneath them, mesmerised by its power and insistent urgency, as it battered and frothed at the ferry's side. Reaching the far bank could not come quickly enough as far as he was concerned. Yet, so absorbed was he by the swirling patterns of water against the boat's hull that the abrupt jolt of their arrival took him completely by surprise, for all that it was an enormous relief.
They shuffled forward with the other passengers and Tom soon felt the luxury of solid land beneath his feet once more. Ahead of them stood a smattering of dwellings, but nothing to compare with the bustling town on the south side of the crossing. The houses clustered around the foot of a disconcertingly steep hill, and were soon left behind as the party climbed up to a point where they were able to look back at Sull, the ferry – which looked even frailer at this distance – and the merging of the two rivers. It was impossible not to be impressed by the power and sheer volume of water involved as the two powerful torrents clashed and eventually melded. The tributary they had just crossed was sufficiently large and impressive in its own right that Tom felt a moment of doubt and, as they left it behind and moved on, he felt compelled to ask, "How do we know we're following the right river?"
"Simple," Mildra told him with reassuring confidence. "I can sense the goddess in this one."
Had anyone else said that, Tom would have laughed; but this was Mildra, so he didn't.
Ulbrax felt sure his quarry would be sticking close to the Thair – the priestess would insist on that – which meant this was the only road they could take. And, unless they'd acquired horses somewhere along the way, they couldn't be too far ahead; but he really did need to know how far.
The covered wagon which now approached, pulled by a pair of plodding oxen, offered an opportunity to find out, as well as a means of testing a few other things. He stopped and waited for the wagon to draw closer. Beside him, Wil did the same. "Good day to you, Sir," he said, wearing his most disarming smile.
"Morning." The fellow holding the reins of the cart seemed friendly enough, but the sour-faced woman sitting beside him – presumably the poor brecker's wife – glared back with open suspicion.
"A lovely day to be travelling," Ulbrax said, casually patting the nearest of the two oxen, which had been pulled to a halt and now stood patiently swishing its tail. The Rust Warrior, for whom the wife had reserved particularly daggered glares, wisely stood some distance back from the animals. "Could you tell me, how far are we from Sull?" Ulbrax asked. Although he'd never visited the town he had lived in the area long enough to know the general lay of the land.
"Oh, no more'n a couple of hours ride, a bit more if yer walking," the man said, glancing at Wil.
"Excellent news!" Ulbrax's smile broadened. He then continued, with studied casualness. "We're hurrying to catch up with some friends and wondered if they might have passed you on the road. A party of four. You can't miss them – one's a Kayjele, then there's a man, a young woman and a lad."
"Friends, you say?"
Was that a hint of suspicion in the man's voice? Would they be forced to resort to threat and violence after all? No matter if so, but it seemed only fair to give politeness one more chance. "Yes, we were running late and missed a rendezvous, so are now desperately trying to catch them; you know how it is." Time to employ the smile again.
The man nodded, as if he'd done the same sort of thing himself before now. "Happens we did see a group like that just as we were leaving Sull, so you're a few hours behind, maybe more, maybe less, depending on the timing of the ferry."
There! Politeness did have its uses after all. "Much obliged. We'll bid you good journey and will be on our way, then. After all, we've a ferry to catch!"
"Hope you do, and that you catch up with your friends," the man said.
"Oh, we will, never fear," Ulbrax assured him as the man twitched the reins and yelled the team of oxen into lumbering motion.
Ulbrax was delighted with the exchange. This was the first time since being woken that the Rust Warrior had encountered people without killing someone. Welcome reassurance ahead of their venturing into a busy town such as Sull. He glanced across at his silent companion, who had no difficulty keeping pace with the horse's long stride. Now, unless Rust Warriors had some previously unsuspected inhibition against crossing open water, they couldn't fail, but one hurdle at a time.
TWELVE
Kat was surprised to discover how many people were willing to help. The Soul Thief's killing spree appeared to have stirred things up on the streets in a big way. Folk who lived near the wall and by the docks might still dismiss her as nothing more than a child's story, but those who dwelt nearer the Stain were fast accepting the Soul Thief as reality, particularly those who fell within the monster's likely prey group. The talented – all the minor practitioners who quietly went about their business and kept the creaking wheels of society in the under-City turning – were living in fear of their lives. Death was no stranger to anyone living in the City Below. Every street, every community, was accustomed to its cold, musty presence, pitching up when least expected like some long lost relative at a family gathering, never welcome but impossible to turn away. Yet what the Soul Thief was delivering went beyond mere death. There was something unclean and horrifying about the way she consumed the life force of her victims, an unnatural demise that was far worse than seeing a loved one carried away by illness or age or the simple rigours of life. The Soul Thief claimed as her own the essence of a person, the very part which was said to travel back along the Thair to reunite with the goddess Thaiss. For anyone with even a hint of faith, this was a fate too terrible to countenance.
So when Kat and the aged apothaker arrived at their doorstep and offered folk the opportunity to come out from behind the barricades and actually do something, many were only too willing. Not all, of course. Some simply shook their heads and set about building the barricades higher. Kat could hardly blame them for that. Nor did she intend to force people into helping as Charveve had demanded. She wasn't about to have that on her conscience if anything went wrong. Besides, with the apothaker's help she was recruiting plenty enough to the cause. In truth, she was a little surprised to discover just how many of these talents there were within a comparatively small area of the streets. It only emphasised how integral they were to the community.
One thing seemed increasingly obvious. This latest visit by the Soul Thief was exceptional. There had never been such a concentration of attacks before. The Soul Thief had been conducting these sporadic raids on the underCity's denizens for generations, but Kat had never heard of her killing in these numbers – so many that people couldn't help but notice and even the razzers felt obliged to investigate.
Kat had no idea why this particular visit should be so different, but she had every intention of making it even more so.
During the hours they spent together, systematically going from street to street, door to door, Kat developed a growing respect for her companion, despite the residual waft of foul odour that still clung to her following the selfneglect of her grieving. There was a core of courage and strength in the woman that belied her obvious frailties, and, while Kat realised that her sense of loss included a large chunk of self-interest, it was clearly more than that. The apothaker had obviously cared deeply for her lost apprentice. There was also an indefinable air of dignity, of class about the woman which prompted Kat to say, as they headed home, satisfied with what they'd achieved, "You're not originally from down here, are you?"
The woman paused and smiled. "No, not originally; but I've been here for so long now that my life before doesn't really matter anymore."
"Even so, when this is all over, maybe you could tell me about it."
A faraway look came into the apothaker's eyes then, as
if she were remembering something precious, and her features took on a tenderness and softness which rolled away the years and hinted at lost beauty. "Yes," she said at length, focussing on Kat once more, "I'd like that."
Kat had managed to snatch several hours' sleep the previous night, for a change, which meant that once she'd seen the apothaker safely home she still had plenty of time and energy to burn up before globes out.
In theory, they were close enough to the Stain that the Soul Thief could return there at the end of each night and venture forth again each evening, but Kat didn't think so. The nursery tale had it that the monster slunk away into the derelict shadows of the streets to wait out the day before returning to terrorise folk the following night. The story had been pretty much spot on in every other respect, and Kat's gut instinct told her it had this part right as well. Why waste precious hunting time going to and from the Stain at either end of the night when the killer could simply curl up in a disused building ready to stalk the streets again as soon as darkness fell?
If Kat could only find the creature's lair, she might be able to take it unawares during daylight and kill the monster while it slept. That sounded straightforward enough, like all good plans – apart from one minor detail: there were nearly as many derelict buildings in the under-City as there were fish in the Thair.
Fortunately, Kat knew exactly where the Soul Thief had killed over the past few nights, so concentrated her search accordingly. That still left a lot of streets and buildings to cover, but at least the task then seemed manageable. It would have been easier still had she recruited the Tattooed Men, or at least Rel and M'gruth, but they were still very much Charveve's tribe, and she wasn't entirely sure how far to trust them. Besides, in recent times she'd grown used to operating solo.
Where possible Kat took to the roofs, which she'd come to regard as her own personal highway during the years spent alone. The majority of buildings in the City Below were single storey and packed tightly together, which made the going easy. Many were also poorly built, and that added an element of hazard which kept Kat on her toes. One misplaced step and she could go tumbling down, taking the roof with her and maybe even landing in the lap of a startled resident within. It hadn't happened yet, but the risk was always there.
On this particular occasion, she used the roofways to get around but concentrated her search on the taller buildings. She reasoned that, were the Soul Thief hiding out at ground level, she might easily be discovered by scavengers – either human or reptilian. Disinherited street-nicks, opportunists, spill dragons, they all frequented the deserted slums. No, a taller building where access to upper storeys was made more difficult by crumbling stairways and collapsed infrastructure seemed the more likely. The number of such places that had gone to rack and ruin was limited, which narrowed things down still further.
The search took her from the solid brick delivery chute and corkscrew stairway leading to the City Above, once disputed by the Blood Herons and the Thunderheads, right up to the shadow of the grand conveyor, which was active at this hour – the chugging squeal of cogs and wheels as they conspired to push along the conveyor's endless rolling surface formed a discordant backdrop to her work.
During the course of the afternoon Kat found one recently dead body, a human skull, a pair of sleeping or drunk vagrants, somebody's stash of assorted valuables (most of which were undoubtedly stolen), a box of halfused candles and a battered brass lamp beside a pallet of filthy bed linen, two rusted knives, one decapitated clockwork toy soldier, a child's doll with a missing eye, and the shattered frame of a crossbow. In addition, she disturbed a rare night crow – the great black birds said to prey on the under-City's bat population – and stumbled on a naked thirty-something woman spreading her legs for a much younger man; either a lovers' tryst or a whore plying her trade. And, in a derelict tower attached to a long-disused building, she came across a heart beetle nest, which she gave a wide berth while inspecting the room from the far side due to her loathing of the flesheating bugs. Their glistening black carapaces and nipping mandibles made them the stuff of nightmare; hers, at least. Heart beetles were essentially scavengers, but they were notoriously unfussy creatures who would quite happily take a nip from living flesh given the chance.
In short, she found just about everything she might have expected to find in such surroundings, apart from any sign of the Soul Thief. Not a bitter blow in truth. She'd known from the outset that the chances of finding anything were slim, but that didn't stop her being disappointed.
Having covered every likely bolt-hole in the area defined by the Soul Thief's attacks she was forced to accept defeat, and was on her way back to the Tattooed Men when she saw something, or rather someone.
The view was good enough that she recognised him instantly, causing her to pause and lie down, clinging to the edge of the roof in order to get a better look. Tall, slender, the slicked-back hair: Brent. Nor was he alone. With him were two men, one she didn't recognise – an individual even more slender than Brent, and stoopshouldered, as if his head was too heavy for the shoulder to fully support. The other she did know: one of the Fang, the man whose ribs she'd raked with her sword the previous day. What in the world could Brent want with a member of a street gang? There was something furtive about the way the trio hurried along, huddled close and talking in subdued tones, the stoop-shouldered man casting the odd anxious glance over his shoulder, as if keen not to be seen in such company.
The three of them were crossing an open square a little ahead of Kat and she couldn't make out what they were saying, just a murmur of voices. She didn't trust this Brent, not in the slightest, and was having second thoughts about their hasty alliance. Bringing down the Soul Thief was too important a task to risk by involving unknown elements. Despite the free meal and despite her agreeing otherwise, she resolved not to tell Brent about the trap being planned.
The man and his two friends were about to walk out of sight. She almost went after them, but in truth she was a little weary and a little despondent after the day's fruitless search – not to any great degree, but enough that she decided to take the path of least effort and let them go. Whatever they were scheming she didn't care, as long as it kept Brent occupied and out of her way.
This was a decision she would come to sorely regret; one which would haunt her in the days that followed and cause her to ask that most pointless and inwardly corrosive of questions: What if…?
Tom felt that he was making real progress with Kohn. He hadn't yet reached the point where he could understand the Kayjele as clearly as Mildra seemed to, but he was beginning to get an ever clearer impression of the emotions and general direction of whatever Kohn attempted to convey. Tom's desire to pursue this was driven in no small part by his own insatiable curiosity, his determination to learn as much about his abilities as he could, but also by a persisting sense of shame at his original reaction to the giant, whom he had since learnt to both like and respect.
Whatever the motivation, he felt sure it was this developing sensitivity that enabled him to detect the Kayjele's alarm at the same time as Mildra.
The land had risen sharply after they left Sull's ferry behind, the track following a serpentine course as it zigged and zagged its way against the gradient. They moved through a landscape of loose stone, low bracken, and small silver-barked trees whose spindly branches were adorned by feathery leaves. The way remained steep despite the path's meanderings, and the gravelly nature of the ground underfoot made the going less certain than it might have been. In the end they reached the top without mishap, and looked down to see the Thair some distance below. Sull and the tributary river were hidden from view by the trees, but the land ahead fell away gently – a sweep of hillside that brought their course more or less level with the river once more. This hill seemed to be almost an isolated ripple in the terrain; a bit of the land pulled back and ruffled up to make way for the tributary river.
They had begun the descent and were perhaps a third of the w
ay down the gradual slope when Kohn became alarmed.
"Something's upsetting Kohn," Tom blurted out.
"He can sense danger," Mildra added. "A threat coming up from behind us."
They were still among the trees and although the track no longer followed the switchback pattern of their ascent, nor was it entirely straight, so they had only a limited view of their back trail. Tom noticed that Dewar already had the kairuken out and loaded, and he drew his sword a little self-consciously. This would be his first opportunity to put the lessons into practice and all of a sudden, with the sword held tightly in his hand and the prospect of using it in anger looming, they seemed far too few and far too incomplete.
Was that a horse approaching, the muffled, rhythmic thud of hooves? Sounded like it. He flexed his fingers while still clasping the sword, loosening and tightening his grip nervously, and took a step forward to stand between Mildra and whatever was approaching.
Then they came into view; two of them. One mounted, one on foot. The horse was hardly at an allout gallop, but nor was it walking. Incredibly, the figure on foot kept pace. Tom had never seen human legs move so fast or arms pump so purposefully.
"Careful," Dewar said quietly, "the one on foot is a lot more than he seems."